86 



JOURNEY FROM CAPE FRIO 



departure being delayed by looking for some mules which had run 

 away. 



Heavy rain again accompanied us for a league and a half, through 

 a thicket and wood, along the sea-beach, to \he fazenda de Baretto, 

 where we arrived in the night, and took up our lodging in an empty 

 house. In the marshy meadows and woods through which our road 

 lay, many luminous insects were flying about ; among them was the 

 elater noctiliicus, with two bright green luminous points on the 

 breast. 



The goat-sucker (caprimulgus), whose loud cry the Portuguese 

 imagine to resemble the words Joao corta pao ! flew about here in 

 numbers, lightly hovering in the dark forest paths, and often alight- 

 ing on the ground at our feet. It reminded us of the cry of the owl 

 in the dark, in the European woods. 



As the bad weather continued, we remained the 18th of Sep- 

 tember at Baretto, and increased our collections with some interesting 

 birds. On one occasion, when I was trying to surprise the cuckoo 

 described by Azara, under the name of chochi, which I had been long 

 endeavouring, in vain, to procure, a beautiful pair of the black and 

 white fork-tailed kite (falco furcatiis, Linn.) suddenly appeared over 

 my head : the dazzling whiteness of their plumage formed a fine con- 

 trast with the dark clouds. I immediately shot one of them, hid 

 myself, and in a short time succeeded in bringing down the other, 

 by which I was well indemnified for the loss of the cuckoo I had 

 missed. 



We were glad to be able to leave Baretto, because two vendas, or 

 public-houses, had involved our people in a serious afii'ay. The journey 

 northwards along the sea-shore is fatiguing, and partly through 

 deep sand, which caused it to be late in the day before we reached 

 the place of our destination. On the way we found some beautiful 

 mimosa snails, about the gardens of some habitations, and also a 



