Ill 
ANIMAL LIFE IN THE TROPICAL FORESTS 
271 
notes those points in which the forests of the equatorial zone 
offer different phenomena. Here, as in the case of plants, we 
exclude all zoological science, classifications, and nomenclature, 
except in as far as it is necessary for a clear understanding 
of the several groups of animals referred to. We shall there- 
fore follow no systematic order in our notes, except that 
which would naturally arise from the abundance or prominence 
of the objects themselves. We further suppose our traveller 
to have no prepossessions, and to have no favourite group, in 
the search after which he passes by other objects which, in 
view of their frequent occurrence in the landscape, are really 
more important. 
General Aspect of the Animal Life of Equatorial Forests 
Perhaps the most general impression produced by a first 
acquaintance with the equatorial forests is the comparative 
absence of animal life. Beast, bird, and insect alike require 
looking for, and it very often happens that we look for them 
in vain. On this subject Mr. Bates, describing one of his 
early excursions into the primeval forests of the Amazon 
valley, remarks as follows : “We were disappointed in not 
meeting with any of the larger animals of the forest. There 
was no tumultuous movement or sound of life. We did not 
see or hear monkeys, and no tapir or jaguar crossed our path. 
Birds also appeared to be exceedingly scarce.” Again : “I 
afterwards saw reason to modify my opinion, founded on first 
impressions, with regard to the amount and variety of animal 
life in this and other parts of the Amazonian forests. There 
is, in fact, a great variety of mammals, birds, and reptiles, but 
they are widely scattered and all excessively shy of man. The 
region is so extensive and uniform in the forest clothing of its 
surface, that it is only at long intervals that animals are seen 
in abundance, where some particular spot is found which is 
more attractive than others. Brazil, moreover, is throughout 
poor in terrestrial mammals, and the species are of small size ; 
they do not, therefore, form a conspicuous feature in the 
forests. The huntsman would be disappointed who expected 
to find here flocks of animals similar to the buffalo-herds of 
North America, or the swarms of antelopes and herds of 
ponderous pachyderms of Southern Africa. We often read 
