A FAIRY SPECTACLE. 
453 
It is an interestinsc circumstance in connection with him tliat 
he seems to have a passion for the sound of falling waters. His 
favourite haunts are deep, broken valleys, through which the river 
tumbles in a foaming cataract. In the open plains he is never seen ; 
but in June and July he quits his rocks and waters for a while, and 
repairs to the forests to gather a harvest from their prolific fruit-trees. 
Sir Richard Schomburgk describes his ascent of a steep, almost pre- 
cipitous height, where the path was obstructed by blocks of granite, 
gi-een with mosses and ferns. On reaching a narrow table-land, his 
Indian guides signed to him to hide silently behind a bush. He 
waited a few moments, and then heard in the distance a cry like that 
of a young cat, and imagined it to be the voice of a quadruped. The 
last sounds had scarcely died away before one of the Indians proceeded 
to imitate it with surprising fidelity. This drew forth a response, and 
very soon similar cries resounded on every side. Then, with swift flight, 
out of the bushes dashed a number of beautiful rupicoles, resplendent 
in their bright orange plumage and purple-bordered crest ; pausing an 
instant to look for the comrade whose voice they fancied they had 
heard, and disappearing with the rapidity of lightning on discovering 
the deception. 
After a painful journey of several days. Sir Richard Schom- 
burgk arrived at a place where a strange and elfin-like spectacle 
seemed to have been reserved for him. While halting to take rest, 
he and his companions heard the calls of several of these dazzling 
cocks of the rock, and a couple of Indians advanced, crawling along 
the ground, to discover their whereabouts. One of them quickly 
returned, with signs to Schomburgk to follow him. After stealthily 
creeping through the herbage for about a thousand yards, he suddenly 
descried the other Indian prone upon the ground, while among the 
bushes flashed the bright orange plumage of the rupicoles. A large 
company of these birds was engaged in a kind of dance on an enormous 
rock, forming as fantastic and pretty a sight as ever traveller beheld. 
Perched on the surrounding bushes were a score of spectators, male 
birds and females ; on the summit of the cliflT was a male, traversing it 
in every direction, and executing the most surprising steps and move- 
