il8* THE GREAT 6AVERN OF GUACHARO. j 
those subterranean places. The vegetation continu*^^ 
the cave ofCaripe, as in those deep crevices of the A*' jj, 
half excluded from the light of day; and does n®*' |( 
appear, till, advancing in the interior, we reach thidJ|( 
forty paces from the entrance. We measured the 
means of a cord: and we went on about four hundred 
thirty feet, without being obliged to light our torch®“’j|).' 
Day-light penetrates into this region, becaiis® ^ 
grotto forms but one single channel, which keep® 
same direction from south-e.i^t to north-west. Whet®^ 
'ight begins to fail, we hearrl from afar the hoarse j 
of the nocturnal birds, sounds which the natives 
belong exclusively to those subterraneous places. 
guacharo is of the size of our fowls, has the mouth ^ 
goatsuckers and procnias, and the port of those 
the crooked beak of which is surrounded with stiff 
jiairs. It forms a new genus, very different ft®'” V 
goatsucker by the force of its voice, by the consid”'Jjp 
strength of its beak, containing a double tooth, 
feet without the membranes that unite the anteriut O 
lanxes of the claws. In its manners it has analog!®® ^ 
with the goatsuckers and the alpine crow. The 
of the guacharo is of a dark bluish-grey, mixed with ® jf 
streaks and specks of black. It is difficult to 1®''!' t 
idea of the horrible noise occasioned bv ihoiisat'” 
these birds in the dark (lart of the cavern, and "'h'” 1 
only be compared to the croaking of our crows, " 
in the pine forests of the north, live in society, ai”* / 
struct tlieir nests upon trees the tops of which 
each other. The shrill and piercing cries of the 
roes strike upon the vaults of the rocks, and are '’^1’^!^ 
by the echo in the depth of the cavem. 'J’he 
shewed us the nests of these birds, by fixing tot^yjt' 
the end of a long pole. These nests were fii'ty ®' . p/ 
feet high above our heads, in holes in the slnip® 
nels, with wdiich the roof of the grotto is jiierced "y 
sieve. The noise increased as we advanced, and tb® J 
*vere affrighted by the light of the torches 
When this noise ceased around us, we heard at a 
the ph-iintive cries of the birds roosting in cthe>‘ ^ / 
cations of the cavern. It seemed as if these bit'” ’ 
swered each other alternately. 
