i68 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
voyage, and winter had fairly set in before its 
close. M. Gouzennes himself, with his family, 
accompanied us in a much larger vessel, called a 
cuberta, as far as Villa Nova. 
Rarely is there perfect silence on the banks of 
the Amazon. Even in the heat of the day, from 
12 to 3 o'clock, when birds and beasts hide 
themselves in the recesses of the forest, there is 
still the hum of busy bees and gaily-coloured flies, 
culling sweets from flowering trees that line the 
shore, especially from certain Ingas and allied trees ; 
and with fading twilight (6|- p.m.) innumerable 
frogs in the shallows and among the tall grasses 
chaunt forth their Ave Marias, sometimes simu- 
lating the chirping of birds, at others the hallooing 
of crowds of people in a distant wood. About the 
same hour the carapana (mosquito) begins its night- 
enduring song, more annoying to the wearied 
voyager than even the wound it inflicts. There 
are, besides, various birds which sing, at intervals, 
the night through, and whose names are uniformly 
framed in imitation of their note ; such are the 
acurau, the murucututil — a sort of owl — and the 
jacurutii, whose song is peculiarly lugubrious. A 
sort of pigeon, which is heard at 5 o'clock in the 
morning, is called, and is supposed to say, Maria, 
jd he dia Mary, it is already day ! ") — a name 
which reminded one of " Milk the cow clean, 
Katey ! " a Yorkshire appellation of the stockdove. 
Among the birds which most amused me with their 
note by day were the ''Bern te vi I saw thee 
well ! ") and the Joad corta pdo ! " John, cut the 
stick ! "). 
