A BucKEEN Acts as Huntsman. 
393 
as in the Avicenitia bushes of the coast. 1 fouud the pretty Jodopleura 
j)ipra in Mr. Brotherson's lovely collection of stuffed birds: this skilled 
huntsman assured uie that this l)ird always conies at the same time with 
the Ainpclis and also goes with it. The large swallow [Hintiido collaris 
Pr. Keuw.) is likewise present as a migratory bird and I succeeded in 
shootiug a specimen : I have come across three flights of them during the 
course of my travels. The first I noticed in June, 1841, scattered on the 
surface of the water at Arapiacro and Tapacuma Hying swiftly after in- 
sects. In April, 184;j, they a[)peared in large crowds in the savannah 
around Pirara Avhere they were flying hither and thither as quick as 
thought now high, now low, over the extensive plain: but they only re- 
mained for half a day. The third flight 1 also witnessed on the Dem- 
erara. I doubt whether they nest in Guiana. Tlie genus Dat<ijpi(S 
seemed to be the most iiumerous among the m.immals and of the s]»ecies 
present in (iuiana three are found on the ^^andhills alone: Dasijpus 
Pchd Desm. ( Icssy of the Araw.'iks ) , />. niiiiiilus Desm. ( lessy Uarakatta 
of the Arawaks), and D. tatouai/ ]>esm. They live in holes and gen- 
erally cast 8 to \) young, A\ ith closed eyelids at birth, but after that they 
soon folloAv their mother al>out everywhere. In spite of the coat of 
mail, the T)<i-^jii>ii^ can get along remarkal)ly quickly, and it is only when 
they can neither dig into the ground nor uianage to escape from their 
pursuer in any other Avay, that they Avill roll up and allow themselves 
to be caught, ihtsjuni^ riicoiihcrt Desm. is said to (»( ('ii]»y s])ecially 
the savannah between the l>erbice and the Demerara. I also often came 
across the ]»retty little sipiiiael ( l^riiinis! arstiKins Linn.) Avhence it Avould 
seem that it is distributed over the whole of South America: in its 
manner of living it is quite like the European and, judging from the 
statements of the Indians, it must also build a nest for its young. 
082. At the foot of the Sandhills and stretching from :\rr. 
Brotherson's residence in a northwesterly direction A\'as a regular 
forest of Monica ria fiocrifern, a\ here large nnnd»ei s of Corlotiethji^i and 
Dnsifproetn had choseu their quarters. Hunting for the former A\'as 
very like our badger hunting. , An old l)nckeen took the place of a hunts- 
man in niy host's household and hardly a day passed that she did not 
supply the talde with a tasty piecf of game. Accompanied by two dogs, 
which she loved like her oAvn chiblren if she had liad any, Avith bow and 
arrDAV in hand, she hasteiu'd almost every moi ning to the forest, and hnd 
she ouly been a l>it more young, and a little less ugly T imight alreadv 
haA'e believed that it Avas Avith Diana Avhoni I pro]iosed trying my luck in 
hunting the creatures above-mentioned. Fortune did uot smile at all 
faA'ourably on us at tirst, the keen dogs scouring the tinli swamp in 
vain, but Avhen at last one of them Avas heard l»arking some distance 
off, our pack of loudly yelping hounds folloAved (»n. Shouting '^Laba. 
laba!" my companion hurried ahe.id, and 1 after her, until Ave finally 
came up Avith them in front of a huge hollow OA^erturned troo. On 
getting near, one of the dogs crei^t into the trunk and just as the im- 
(letuous huntress was making me to understand that the game would 
soon be out and that I must be ready to shoot, the laba made a bolt for 
it^ and Avith the yelping pack at its heels sought safety in the speediest 
