SECOND JOURNEY. 



107 



there is no bird known wliose feathers are so slightly 

 fixed to the skin as those of the boclora. After shoot- 

 ing it, if it touch a branch in its descent, or if it drop 

 on hard ground, whole heaps of feathers fall off : on 

 this account it is extremely hard to procure a specimen 

 for preservation. As soon as the skin is dry in the 

 preserved sjDecimen, the feathers become as well fixed 

 as those in any other bird. 



Another species, larger than the boclora. 

 attracts much ot your notice m these wilds : 

 it is called Cuia by the Indians, from the sound of its 

 voice j its habits are the same as those of the boclora,. 

 but its colours different ; its head, breast, back, and 

 rump, are a shining, changing green ; its tail not 

 quite so bright ; a black bar runs across the tail to- 

 wards the extremity, and the outside feathers are- 

 partly white as in the boclora ; its belly is entirely ver- 

 milion, a bar of white separating it from the green on 

 the breast. 



There are diminutives of both these birds j they 

 have the same habits, with a somewhat different 

 plumage, and about half the size. Arrayed from head 



to tail in a robe of richest sable hue, the 

 bird^ ^^^^ called Eice-bird loves sjDots cultivated 



by the hand of man. The woodcutter's 

 house on the hills in the interior, and the ]3laiiter's 

 habitation on the sea-coast, equally attract this songless 

 species of the order of pie, provided the Indian corn 

 be ripe there. He is nearly of the jackdaw's size, and 

 makes his nest far away from the haunts of men ; he 

 may truly be called a blackbird : independent of his 

 plumage, his beak, inside and out, his legs, his toes, 

 and claws are jet black. 



