282 



WANDERINGS IN 



Fourth there is another much larger and far more beautiful to be 



Journey. 



~ seen when you arrive in that part of the country where 



The Jaca- there are rocks. The Jacamar has no affinity to the 



mar. 



woodpecker or king's-fislier (notwithstanding what travel- 

 lers affirm) either in its haunts or anatomy. The Jacamar 

 lives entirely on insects, but never goes in search of them. 

 It sits patiently for hours together on the branch of a 

 tree, and when the incautious insect approaches, it flies 

 at it with the rapidity of an arrow, seizes it, and generally 

 returns to eat it on the branch which it had just quitted. 

 It has not the least attempt at song, is very solitary, and 

 so tame that you may get within three or four yards of it 

 before it takes flight. The males of all the different 

 species Avhich I have examined have white feathers on 

 the throat. I suspect that all the male Jacamars hitherto 

 discovered have this distinctive mark. I could learn 

 nothing of its incubation. The Indians informed me 

 that one species of Jacamar lays its eggs in the wood- 

 ants' nests, which are so frequent in the trees of Guiana, 

 and appear like huge black balls. I wish there had been 

 proof positive of this ; but the breeding time was over ; 

 and in the ants' nests which I examined, I could find no 

 marks of birds having ever been in them. Early in 

 January, the Jacamar is in fine plumage for the cabinet 

 of the naturalist. The largest species measures ten 

 inches and a half from the point of the beak to the end 

 of the tail j its name amongst the Indians is Una-waya- 



