142 



Louis Agassiz. 



variety of birds struck me with astonishment. The 

 coarse, sedgy grasses on either side were full of water- 

 birds, one of the most common of which was a small 

 chestnut-brown wading bird, the Jagana (Parra), 

 whose toes are immensely long in proportion to 

 its size, enabling it to run upon the surface 

 of the aquatic vegetation as if it were solid 

 ground. It was now the month of January, 

 their breeding season ; and at every turn of the 

 boat we started them up in pairs. Their flat 

 open nests generally contained five flesh-colored eggs, 

 streaked in zigzag with dark brown lines. The 

 other waders were a small white heron, another ash- 

 colored, smaller species, and a large white stork. 

 The ash-colored herons were always in pairs ; the 

 white ones always single, standing quiet and alone 

 on the edge of the water, or half hidden in the green 

 capim. The trees and bushes were full of small war- 

 bler-like birds, which it would be difficult to char- 

 acterise separately. To the ordinary observer they 

 might seem like the small birds of our woods ; 

 but there was one species among them which at- 

 tracted my attention by its numbers, and also because 

 it builds the most extraordinary nest, considering 

 the size of the bird itself, that I have ever seen. It 

 is known among the country people by two names, 

 as the Pedreiro or the P'orneiro ; both names refer- 

 ring, as will be seen, to the nature of its habitation. 

 This singular nest is built of clay, and is as hard as 

 stone (pedra)y while it has the form of the round 

 mandioca oven (form), in which the country people 

 prepare their farinha, or flour, made from the 



