212 
Through the Brazilian iVildcrncsi. 
as they flashed in the siin, they seemed to liave snow-white 
bodies borne by dark winys . . . . ]n one piece of high 
forest we saw a party of Toucans, conspicuous even among the 
tree-tops, because of their liuge bills, and the leisurely expert- 
ness with which they crawled, climbed, and hopped among the 
branches .... Around our camp here butterflies of 
gorgeous colouration swarmed, and there were many fungi as 
delicately shaped and tinted as flowers. The scents in' the 
woods were wonderful. There were many Whip-poor-wills, or 
rather Brazilian birds related to them; they uttered at intervals 
through the night a succession of notes suggesting both those 
of our whip-poor-wills and those of our chuck-will's-widow of 
the Gulf States. There were other birds akin to familiar birds 
of the United States : a dull-coloured catbird, a dull-coloured 
robin, and a sparrow belonging to the same genus as our com- 
mon song-sparrow .... There were doves and wood- 
peckers of various species. Other birds bore no resemblance 
to any of ours. One honey-creeper with plumage that was 
black, purple and turquoise, and brilliant scarlet feet (Yellow- 
winged Sugarbird, Ed. B.N.). Two of the birds which 
Cherrie and Miller procured were of extraordinary nesting 
habits. One, a minlet, in shape resembled a short-tailed blue- 
bird. It is plumbeous, with a fulvous belly and white 
tail-coverts. It is a stupid little bird, and does not like to fly 
away even when shot at. It catches its prey and ordinarily acts 
like a dull flycatcher, perching on some dead tree, swooping on 
insects and then returning to its perch, and never going to the 
ground to feed or run about. But it nests in burrows which 
it digs itself, one bird usually digging, while the other bird 
perches in a bush close by. Sometimes these burrows are in 
the side of a sand-bank, the sand being so loose that it is a 
marvel it does not cave in. Sometimes the burrows are in the 
level plain, running down about three feet, and then rising at 
an angle. The nest consists of a few leaves and grasses, and the 
eggs are white. The other bird called a nun or waxbill, is 
about the size of a thrush, greyish in colour, with a waxy red 
bill. It also burrows in the level soil, the burrow being about 
five feet long; and over the mouth of the burrow it heaps a pile 
of leaves and sticks. 
" Through the Highland Wilderness of Western 
