MANAKINS AND TANAGERS. 
91 
pass quietly to the feeding- trees of beautiful birds. Here among the 
abundant foliage could be heard the plaintive tones of the trogons, 
who themselves were perched out of sight on lofty branches. Cuckoos 
of several species, with red gleaming plumage, flitted noiselessly to and 
fro in search of worms, their favourite food. Purple jays, in large 
flocks, like their blue cousins of North America, chattered and gesticu- 
lated on the fruit-trees. Motmots sat alone in drowsy melancholy ; 
goatsuckers of exquisite plumage dozed and dreamed beneath the 
shade of melancholy boughs. Amaranth manakins, graceful and swift 
of wing, hovered in every bush ; tanagers whistled, and warblers filled 
the air with soft sweet music. Flycatchers in endless variety pursued 
their unresting warfare against the 
insect race. With stately step, like 
that of the wild turkey, moved on 
the curassows, picking here and there 
some delicate morsel, and uttering 
loud peeping notes ; while guaras, 
in parties of two and three, stripped 
the fruit from the lower trees, and 
betrayed their whereabouts by the 
repetition of their loud, harsh note. 
The manakins above spoken of 
belong to the numerous family of 
,1 11/ 1 • -L • -Ll THE AMARANTH MANAKIN. 
the chatterers, which vie with the 
trogons and the sun-birds in brilliancy of plumage, and may be classed 
among the most active and restless of birds. They live in flocks, and 
hunt about ceaselessly in the dense but humid woods for the fruit and 
insects which form their food. Their cry is a shrill, quick repetition 
of the syllable Jcet, ket, ket. 
On the other hand, the tanagers belong to the finches, from which 
they are distinguished by a notch near the tip of the upper mandible. 
Their appearance against the dark background of the forest foliage is 
very striking; the splendour of their many-coloured plumage rendering 
