88 
TEAVELS ON THE AMAZON. 
Some of the horses and cattle were miserable-looking 
objects, from wounds inflicted by the bats, which cause 
them to lose much blood, and sometimes, by successive 
attacks, kill them. Senhor Leonardo informed* us that 
they particularly abounded in some parts of the island, 
and that he often has bat-hunts, when several thousand 
are killed. It is a large species, of a coffee-brown colour, 
probably the Phyllostoma hastatum. 
The morning after my arrival I took my gun, and 
walked out to see what sport the island afforded. First 
going to a tree near the house, which Senhor Leonardo 
pointed out to me, I found numerous humming-birds 
fluttering about the leaves (which were still wet with 
dew), and seeming to wash and cool themselves with the 
moisture : they were of a blue and green colour, with a 
long forked tail (Cam^ylopterus hirundinaceus). Walking 
on in the campo, I found abundance of Bemtevi fly- 
catchers, cuckoos, and tanagers, and also shot a buzzard 
and a black eagle different from any I had seen at Para. 
Insects were very scarce, owing to the dryness of the 
season and the absence of forest ; so I soon gave up col- 
lecting them, and attended entirely to birds, which were 
rather plentiful, though not very rare or handsome. In 
ten days I obtained seventy specimens, among which 
were fourteen hawks and eagles, several herons, egrets, 
paroquets, woodpeckers, and one of the large yellow- 
billed toucans {Bhamphastos Toco), which are not found 
at Para. 
Having made several excursions for some miles into 
the interior of the island and along the coast, I obtained 
a tolerable idea of its geography. It is everywhere a 
