Animals of Peru. 1721 



insects, which they snatch up with extraordinary dexterity. Finches twitter on the 

 summits of the loftiest trees, beyond the reach of the hunter's shot: they are dis- 

 tinguished, like the Ainpelidae, who, however, live amongst the lower bushes, by the 

 lively and almost dazzling colours of their feathers. In modest plumage of cinnamon- 

 brown, with head and neck of dark olive, the organista* raises, in the most woody 

 parts of the forest, her enchanting song, which is usually the prognostic of an ap- 

 proaching storm. The tender, melancholy strains, and the singular clearness of the 

 innumerable modulations, charm the ear of the astonished traveller, who, as if arrested 

 by an invisible power, stops to listen to the syren, unmindful of the danger of the 

 threatening storm. On old decayed stumps of trees the busy creeper f and the varie- 

 gated woodpecker are seen pecking the insects from under the loose bark, or by their 

 tapping bring them out of their concealed crevices ; while the red-tailed potter-bird 

 (Opetiorynchus ruficaudus, Pr. Max.) builds his dwelling of potter's clay, or loam, as 

 firmly as if it were destined to last for ever. The pouched starlings]: hang their nests, 

 often four or five feet long, on the slender branches of trees, where they swing to and 

 fro with the slightest breath of wind. Like a dazzling flash of coloured light the 

 colibri (humming-bird) appears and disappears. No combination of gorgeous colour- 

 ing can exceed that which is presented in the plumage of the golden-tailed humming 

 or fly-bird (Trochilus chrysurus, Cuv.) which haunts the warm primaeval forests, but it 

 is still more frequently found in the pure atmosphere of the ceja-girded montanas. 

 The silky cuckoo (Trogon heliothrix, Tsch.) retires into the thickest masses of foliage, 

 from which its soft rose-coloured plumage peeps out like a flower. The ciy of the vo- 

 racious chuguimbis § accompanies the traveller from his first steps in the montanas to 

 his entrance into the primaeval forests, where he finds their relative, Dios te de.\\ This 

 bird accompanies its significant cry by throwing back its head, and making a kind of 

 rocking movement of its body. The Indians, who are always disposed to connect su- 

 perstitious ideas with the natural objects they see around them, believe that some 

 great misfortune will befall any one who may shoot this bird, because it utters the sa- 

 cred word Dios. Long trains of green parrots fill the air with their noisy chattering. 

 One kind of these birds (Psittacus mercenarius, Tsch.) is remarkable for regular migra- 

 tions. Every morning they sally forth in flocks from the upper to the lower forests, 

 where they pass the day, and they regularly return before sunset to their roosting- 

 places. From year to year these parrots leave their night quarters daily at the same 



* The organistas of Peru, Brazil, and Guiana, &c, mentioned by so many tra- 

 vellers, all belong to the family of the Troglodytince, to the two genera, Troglodytes, 

 Viell., and Cyphorhinus, Cab. The Peruvian organista above alluded to is the Tro- 

 glodytes leucophrys, Tosch. In Guiana it appears to be the Cyphorhinus carinatus, 

 Cab. 



f Xenops, Anabates, Dendrocolaptes, and many other kinds of Capito and Picas. 



% These are different kinds of Cassicus and Icterus. 



§ Kinds of Pteroglossus Those most frequently met with in the montanas are 

 the Pt. atrogularis, Sturm. ; Pt. cceruleocinctus, Tsch. (Aulachorhynchus, Orb.) ; and 

 Pt. Derbianus, Gould. 



|| Dios te de, signifies ' May God give it thee.' The sound which is interpreted, Dion 

 tc de, resembles very much the cry of most of the toucans, or pepper- caters. 



