mJNTING LTJRIS. 



259 



line-8 of gullSj saudpipei-s, plovers, and curlews, gath- 

 er, and, as tlie water advances, they are forced to 

 approach the shore until the only resting-places left 

 them are the logs and snags that raise their crooked 

 limbs and roots ahove the surface of the water. At 

 such times these perching-places are one living, flut- 

 tering mass of birds. Again and again I came to 

 this spot, and always returned with as many speci- 

 mens as my native hunter could skin on the follow- 

 ing day. 



A few minutes' walk back of the cmiProlmr's 

 house took me into the suiTOuuding forest, where I 

 was accustomed to ramble to and fro horn* after hoiu' 

 until 1 knew all the favorite haunts of most of the 

 birds ; yet nearly eveiy day, till the time I left., 1 se- 

 cured sj)ecimen8 of a species that had not been repre- 

 sented in my collection. Still others were seen, and 

 one or more specimens of them must be obtained ; 

 and thus, the more I collected, the more interesting 

 became my work. My regular daily routine was to 

 hunt in the morning till ten or eleven o'clock, retm-n 

 to the house to avoid the heat, and then go out again 

 about four, and remain till the setting sun warned 

 me to i-eturn or grope my way back as best I could 

 through the dai'k woods. Soon after I arrived, a 

 tree, as large as our oak, became filled with great 

 scarlet flowers, and in the early morning flocks of red 

 luria {^Eos y^ubra^ Gml) and other paiTakeets, with 

 blue heads, red and green breasts, and the feathers 

 on the under side of the wings of a light red and bril- 

 liant yellow {Triclhogloastis cyamgrammm^ Wagl.), 

 would come to feed on them. It was easy to know 



♦ 



