344 



BATOEIAN. 



[chap, XXIV. 



days a hvmdred, a number we can hardly reach here in 

 months of unremitting searcli. In birds there is the same 

 differeiice. Tn most ]mrts of tropieal America we may 

 ahvayH find some species of woodpecker t4inager, bush- 

 shrike, chatterer^ trogon, toucan, cuckoo, and tyrant- fly- 

 catcher ; and a few days' active search will produce more 

 variety than can be here met with in as many months. 

 Yet, along with this poverty of individuals and of siiecics, 

 tliere are in almost every class and order, some one or two 

 species of such extreme beauty or singularity, as to vie 

 with, or even surpass, anything that even South America 

 can produce. 



One aftenioon when T was arranging my insects, and 

 surrounded by a crowd of wtuuleriug spectatoi"S, I showed 

 one of them bow to look at a small insect with a hand- 

 lens, which caused such evitieut W(mder that all the rest 

 wanted to see it too. I therefore fixed the glass firmly to 

 a piece of soft wood at the proper focus^ and put under it 

 a little spiny heello of the genus Hispa, and then passed 

 it round for examination. The excitement was immense. 

 Some declared it was a yaixl long ; others were frightened, 

 and instantly dropped it, and all were as much astonished, 

 and made as much shouting and gesticulation, as children 

 at a pantomime, or at a Christmas exiiibition of the oxy- 

 hydrogen microscope. And all this excitement was pro- 

 duced by a little pocket lens, an inch and a half focus, and 

 tlicrefore tuagnifyiug only four or iive times, Init which to 

 their unaccustomed eyes appeared to enlarge a hundred- 

 fold. 



On the last day of niy stay here, one of my hunters 

 succeeded in finding and shooting the beautifid Nicotmr 

 pigeon, of whicli 1 had been so long in search. None 

 of the residents had ever seen it, which shows that it is 

 rare and shy. My specimen was a female in beautiful 

 c(Uulition, and the glossy copperj-^ and green of its plumage, 

 the snow-white tail and beautiful pendent feathers of the 

 neck, were greatly admired. I subsequetitly obtained a 

 specimen in New Guinea, and once saw it in the Kai(5a 

 islands. It is found also in some small islands nea? 

 Macassar, in others near Borneo, and in the Nicobar 

 islands, whence it receives its name. It is a ground 



