126 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



Before I got up, Cabell had seen a king vulture, and later in the 

 day I saw a pair perched in a low dead tree growing in a marsh. 

 At the distance that I saw them, they looked black and white with 

 red heads. I also saw another new bird, apparently an ibis, very 

 large, snowy white plumage with black head and legs {Mycteria 

 americana). I saw large flocks of black and white ducks of two 

 or three kinds, wood ibises, blackish ones, like those that we shot at 

 Barranquilla, roseate spoonbills, white egrets, snowy herons, cocoi 

 herons, the black and white terns, some small sand snipe, large 

 plover, three kinds of kingfishers, numbers of the screamers, cara- 

 cara eagles, etc. Late in the afternoon we stopped for wood, and 

 Cabell and myself hurried ashore, but in a few minutes a drenching 

 rain fell, and before we could run back to the boat we were soaked. 

 Cabell shot a very large hawk, probably a young caracara eagle, as 

 it had the same large bluish white beak with pinkish colorations 

 along the side of the head. It was in wretched plumage, and stunk 

 so intolerably of carrion that we did not bring it on board. It was 

 of a dirty dark brownish color above, with a great many narrow 

 brown and white bars on the tail. In the same tree in which the 

 hawk was sitting there were three large iguanas. They seem very 

 abundant along the river here. 



The boat ran all night. Just about dusk, as we were running 

 close to the shore, a large yellowish owl flopped out from some 

 scrubby bushes and flew off from the river. With the exception of 

 the rain in the afternoon, it was clear and hot. 



Wednesday, July 20, 1892. When we woke at daybreak this 

 morning, our boat was just making fast to the wharf at Barran- 

 quilla. We dressed quickly, got off our baggage, and drove around 

 to Miss Hoare's, where we were given very nice rooms. After we had 

 taken some coffee, Alice rested whilst Cabell and I walked around 

 to the market. I bought two more jaguar-skins, — not such large 

 ones as the one I had gotten at Honda, — and paid for them seven 

 dollars and fifty cents in paper. I saw in the market an Indian 

 with a macaw of a kind that I had not seen so far. It was large, 



