80 
A NIGHT-PIECE. 
influences of the blue sky and the unclouded sun ; pacas and agoutis 
venture boldly from obscure retreats ; coatis gambol friskily among the 
soft brown heaps of fallen leaves; the silent sloths steal along the giant 
bough ; while through the breezy glade the lightsome deer bound \vith 
free and nimble step. 
The night aspect of the forest is necessarily very different. The 
flowers that bloomed by day, remarks Mi\ Edwards, have closed their 
delicate petals, and, nestled in their leafy beds, are " dreaming of their 
loves." But a "sister-host" replace them, loading the cool fresh breeze 
with perfume; and a murmur, as of gentle voices, rises from their dainty 
depths. Here and there the moonlight steals through the overarching 
branches, or through the accidental gap made by a fallen tree, adding a 
beauty to the scene, so weird, so haunting, so unearthly, that words fail 
altogether to describe it. Huo;e moths, brightest denizens of the Insect 
World, have taken the places of the butterflies, and swarms of fire-flies 
never weary in their torchlight dance. Far dowTi the road comes on a 
blaze, steady, streaming like a meteor. It whizzes past, and for an 
instant the space is lighted up, and dewy sparklets from the leaves throw 
back the radiance. It is the lantern-fly, seeking what he himself knows 
best, by the "fiery guide" upon his head. The air of the night-bird's 
wing fans your cheek; or you are startled by his mournful note, Wac-o- 
row, wac-o-row, sounding dolefully, by no means so pleasant as that of 
the whip-poor-will. The armadillo creeps carelessly from his hole, 
and at slow pace makes for his feeding-ground ; the opossum climbs 
stealthily up the tree; and the little ant-eater is quietly marauding. 
SOUTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
Of some of the birds which make their habitat in this gorgeous 
forest- world we shall now proceed to speak. 
There is, for instance, the melodious carashue, or Mimus lividus of 
ornithologists; a smaller bird than our English thrush, but of the same 
family ; with a song not so diversified, or loud, or well sustained, yet 
very sweet and plaintive, and producing an indescribable eff"ect upon 
the listener when it echoes through the weird still glades at early dawn, 
and again at "even-tide." In some parts of Brazil he is called the 
