374 
THE TRUMPETER BIRD. 
ONCE MORE IN THE VIRGIN FOREST. 
la the wilds of the virgin forest, to the north of the rolling 
Amazons, is found the golden-breasted trumpeter, or agami — another 
species living to the south of the river. These birds occupy an inter- 
mediate place between the cariamas, the cranes, and the water-hens. 
The forest is their home ; and they live together in numerous com- 
panies, with, according to Schomburgk, as many as one or two thousand 
individuals in each. When not irritated or disturbed, their gait is slow 
and dignified; but they can run at a very rapid rate, and now and 
then they indulge in leaps and bounds that would do credit to a pro- 
fessional gymnast. Their capacity of flight, however, is limited ; and 
hence, when they have to cross a stream of tolerable breadth, many are 
unable to reach the opposite bank, fall in the water, and can save 
themselves only by swimming. This fact explains the definite boun- 
daries of the area of dispersion of the two species ; the Amazon flows 
between them, an impassable barrier. 
The moment a hunter makes his appearance, the agamis anxiously 
ply their wings, but they never go far at a single essay. Soon they 
descend to earth, or settle on the low branches of a tree, where it is 
easy to shoot them. It is in their moments of terror that they raise to 
the loudest pitch that peculiar voice which has obtained them their 
distinctive appellation. At first the cry is shrill and wild; then follows 
a hoarse, rolling sound, which the bird produces with closed beak, 
prolonging it for full a minute, and allowing it gradually to diminish 
in volume, as if it were recedinor to a distance. After a silence of some 
minutes, the cry recommences. The Indians assert that the second 
sound comes from the stomach, but an examination of the bird's vocal 
organs proves the erroneousness of this notion. 
The tracheal duct, which, in its upper section, has the diameter 
of a swan's feather, naiTows at its entrance into the thoracic cavity. 
It is connected with two lateral membranous, hemispherical sacs, of 
which that on the riafht is the more voluminous, and seems to be 
divided into three or four compartments. The movements of the 
thoracic cavity force the air into these sacs, through a narrow opening, 
