212 A HoVuhui in the West Indies. 
wooden lious(^s are erected, protected by mosquito curtains all round. 
I understand these are chiefly for the men working on the canal. I 
noticed many wicker cages containing birds outside these 
houses, but T could not see what kind of birds they contained. 
Panama is a line old Spanish town with houses overhanging the 
streets. When out for a drive on the first afternoon of our stay here, 
we met two nigger boys carrying cages. I, of course could not 
allow them to pass, as I was very curious to know what they had ])eeii 
catching ; one of the cages contained a 3- Colombian Siskin, the 
other four S Yinlet Euphonias. I did not want the Violets. I tried 
hard to buy the Siskin, but, the youngster would not part. I 
questioned these boys about the birds of the district, they could not 
give me much information, but they did inform me that I could buy 
almost any kind of bird in the market. On the following morning 
my companion was ill and unable to leave the Hotel. After seeing 
him safely packed away in charge of a doctor, I made a bee line for 
the market. Whether or not I hit the right day I am unable to say, 
but I was rather disappointed at what I found there. The market is 
in the cei tre of the town and is a large covered in square, with 
formidable palings all round, each vendor has a stall and seems to 
sell a bit of everything ; many of them are Chinese. Parrots of all 
kinds were to be purchased in quantities, monkeys were also plentiful ; 
both the Parrots and monkeys were tethered either to the back or 
sides of the stalls, the small birds were kept in wicker cages ; I bought 
a pair of Colombian Siskins, hail'-a-dozen Violet Euphonias, four small 
Green Tanagers probably {Euphonia miniita) and an All Green 
Chloro Tanager, an immature bird. The latter is now in my aviary 
and is assuming adult plumage, apparently it will be green 
and yellow. A white man has a great ditSculty in purchasing any- 
thing at a reasonable price, especially if they think you want it. We 
only stayed here two days, and after being taken over the canal works 
by one of the engineers, we sailed from Colon for Carthagena. This 
has been a very fine city and possesses a history, l)ut is now practically 
destitute of white people, and most of its imposing buildings are 
tenantless. Try as I would, all I could find here were Troupials and 
monkeys, they appear to have a mania for monkeys in this place ; our 
stay was a very short one, the call being to take gold aboard, which 
was deposited on the ship with great pomp, accompanied by armed 
guards in full uniform. Our next call was Savanilla, here I found 
more Troupials, Parrots, and monkeys ; the Parrots were principally 
Blue-fronted Amazons, and if you asked the natives for small birds 
you could get no direct answer from them. " iii massa, big fine talker 
