FOURTH JOURNEY. 



247 



toe. J\Tow, by means of these scales, and the particular 

 flatness of that part of the leg, the bird is enabled to 

 sleep in safety upon the branch of a tree. 



At the close of day, the great Tinamou gives a loud, 

 monotonous, plaintive whistle, and then immediately 

 springs into the tree. By the light of the full moon, 

 the vigilant and cautious naturalist may see him sitting 

 in the position already described. 



The small Tinamou has nothing that can 

 Tinamou^ 111 be called a tail. It never lays more than 

 one egg, which is of a chocolate colour. It 

 makes no nest, but merely scratches a little hollow in 

 the sand, generally at the foot of a tree. 



Here we have an instance of a bird, the size of a 

 partridge, and of the same tribe, laying only one egg, 

 while the rest of the family, from the peahen to the 

 quail, are known to lay a considerable number. The 

 foot of this bird is very small in proportion, but the 

 back part of the leg bears no resemblance to that of 

 the larger tinamou ; hence one might conclude that it 

 sleeps upon the ground. 



Independent of the hollow trees, the vampires have 

 another hiding-place. They clear out the inside of the 

 large ants' nests, and then take possession of the shell. 

 I had gone about half a day down the river, to a part 

 of the forest where the wallaba-trees were in great 

 plenty. The seeds had ripened, and I was in hopes to 

 have got the large scarlet ara, which feeds on them. 

 But, unfortunately, the time had passed away, and the 

 seeds had fallen. 



While ranging here in the forest, we stopped under 

 an ants' nest ; and, by the dirt below, conjectured that 

 it had got new tenants. Thinking it no harm to dis- 



