9S 
Bird Life of my Surroundings. 
Among the former family I only mention the beautiful heron Ardca 
Agami Linn, that most frequently was to be seen solitary on the banks 
of the small forest streams, in the deepest shadows of the overhanging 
trees: this species is undoubtedly the most beautiful of the genus. The 
brilliant ash-grey feathers hanging down from the back of the head, 
over the neck and upper portion of the wings, as well as the peculiarly 
crooked plumage of like colour over the tail, give the bird, so staid and 
self-conscious in all its movements, quite a peculiar charm. A few 
specimens that I shot here seemed to correspond entirely with the Agami 
so far as plumage was concerned, but the beautiful feathers behind the 
head and over the tail were wanting: I took these for young males. The 
female has a very unassuming brownish plumage. I found these beau- 
tiful birds only on the Karima, Aruka, and Amacura. The Ardca tigrina 
Gm., and A. brasiliensis Linn, had also chosen these forest rivulets as 
favourite resorts though they were met with subsequently on almost all 
the rivers of Guiana. Tt was something funny to watch these lanky 
legged birds continually extending and retracting their long feathery 
necks as thev waded along the water's edge, or to see them with 
drawn-in heads perched on the thickly leaved trees of the Hvor- side. Their 
flesh is very nice and has no trace of an oily or fishy flavour. 
338. Among Rhamphastidae , 1 found h 'hump hast us crytlt rarity nchus 
Linn., A*, rite Hums Linn, and rteroglossus piperivorus as wen us 1\ 
viridis particularly plentiful here, where they had been attracted per- 
haps by the ripe fruits of various trees. Ao family lias at any time been 
blamed really more wrongfully than this for eating the eggs and young 
of other birds, for it absolutely lives only on fruits, while the beaks of 
ihe three largest species R. erythrorhynchus , R. vitcllinus , and R. Toco 
would prove still more unsuitable for eating flesh. In rainy weather, 
they usually perch on the trees and let their peculiar note, that imi- 
tates the jingle of the syllables pia-po-o-co — on which account the Vene- 
zuelans name the bird Piapoco — resound through the forest all day 
long: otherwise, it is only of a morning and evening that they especially 
make a point of doing this. They build their nests in hollow trees, and 
like parrots fly only in pairs: I have never seen them together in mobs. 
When scared from off the trees where they have found ripe fruits, the 
individual pairs part company every time. They were gladly welcomed 
at our table. 
339. The glorious Trogon ( Trogon melanopterus Sw.) of a lustrous 
metallic plumage, immediately after sunrise as a rule lets its wailing 
Wow-Wow note lie heard through the silent forest from out of the Ficus 
trees on which it generally perches in company with the different species 
of Ampelis (Cotingas). The nest exactly resembles that of the wild 
pigeon. AY> bird gave me so much trouble when being skinned because 
even with the greatest care it hardly ever happened to come off un- 
damaged : the skin is so delicate that even if the bird when shot falls 
from the tree and in falling touches a twig or crashes onto the hard 
ground, it becomes useless for stuffing. Among small feathered folk 
whole swarms of representatives of the Tanagradae and Sylvia da c were 
particularly in evidence of a morning and afternoon : they flew through 
the forest from tree to tree, searching for larvae and insects on the bark 
