208



Sydney Porter—Notes from South America



in a cage much smaller than those used at the London Zoo. Besides an

odd Nanday Conure this completed the Parrots.


Of birds of prey, I noticed a Condor with a broken wing, several

Caracaras (Polyborus tharus ), a very common bird of prey in South

America, a Chimango (Milvago chimango) or Common Carrion Hawk,

a still commoner bird. There were several large eagles including a

European White-tailed Sea Eagle which had been presented in 1914.

There was also a female King Vulture.


One rather expected to see hosts of Trumpeters, Curassows, Guans,

etc., of the former there were none ; in all the places I visited in Brazil

I did not see a single Trumpeter, although it was for these birds that

I really went to that country. Of the Curassow r s, there were four

specimens of three varieties, there was also a pair of Guans and a

single pair of Penelopes and two pairs of those charming birds, the

Seriamas. There were, as one would expect in a South American Zoo,

a few Rheas of the common variety. Of exotic birds there were a few

Red-billed Weavers in a canary cage, a tame Raven which was fed

upon nothing else but bread, a pair of Emus, and, what really surprised

me, a magnificent specimen of a male Argus Pheasant, the best I have

ever seen; evidently the damp hot climate and the maize upon which it

was fed suited it.


As for the mammals, these were housed under appalling conditions

which had perhaps better not be described.


I expected to be able to pick up a few rare birds in Brazil for my

aviaries, my chief objective being, as mentioned above, Trumpeters,

but I found very few, if any, native birds offered for sale. Strict laws

now prohibit the killing or catching of almost every bird. Before these

laws were enacted, Brazil’s bird life was being exploited to a shocking

degree. It supplied, after Venezuela, the largest amount of Egret

feathers for the millinery trade and an enormous number of bales of

brightly coloured bird skins were exported to Europe and America,

especially the skins of Humming Birds.


After seeing the crates of brilliantly coloured Tanagers which used

to arrive in this country looking as though the birds had been dipped in

treacle, only to linger a few weeks in the dealer’s shops, one was not

sorry that an end had been put to this nefarious traffic.



