Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 
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were taken in our equipment. The skins as made up were laid in 
these trays, plentifully dusted with powdered naphthaline to 
prevent mould and keep out the ever-present ants and cockroaches. 
Between showers they were arranged on the porch in the sun, 
shaded from its direct rays by cheesecloth and when a shower 
came up, which was often, they were hurried into our room to be 
brought out again as the sun appeared. At night they occupied 
every available spot in the room. Moths, butterflies and other in¬ 
sects were dried in a much simpler manner. A large box-like closet 
with shelves and a 75 watt electric light at the bottom, served as a 
drying cabinet. The specimens placed between layers of cotton, or 
inpaper folders in tin canisters with plenty of naphtha flakes, were 
dried by the heat from the electric light, then sealed with adhesive 
tape to keep them dry and keep out ants. While the drying and 
preserving of specimens occupied much of our time, it was simple 
compared with what we would have found necessary had we lived 
in a tent or thatched hut, which is often the lot of collectors in the 
tropics. 
On the eleventh of April we made a trip by pitpan down the 
river to Santa Rosita, where we spent a week collecting birds 
quite different from those found at Eden. Here we saw for the 
first time numbers of Ibicter americana , an exceedingly noisy 
species of Caracara. It is called by the natives Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka 
from the harsh call of the birds. Seven of these Caracaras were 
perched upon the ridge pole of the thatched roof of a Sumo house 
vieing with each other for vocal supremacy. The crops of those 
that we collected were gorged with wasps. Here also we found a 
pair of Nun Birds, their bright red bill, with a white ruff of feathers 
at its base, giving a queer effect to the sombre grayish-black body. 
Numerous other species were found here only. Making our head¬ 
quarters in the abandoned and partly tumbled down office building, 
we had a good place to work and a dry bed to sleep in. It was 
here only that we were bothered by mosquitoes while in Nicaragua. 
About half-an-hour before sunset they came out in swarms, driving 
us to our beds under the mosquito nets, and preventing any work 
in the evenings. They were also very numerous in the forest during 
the day, keeping us continually on our guard. 
One night was spent drifting down the Banbana River with a 
jack-light in search of Tapirs and other night-prowling animals. 
