Sydney Porter—Notes from South America



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I visited several bird shops in Rio and Santos but found that their

stock-in-trade consisted mainly of Canaries, Java Sparrows, various

species of African Waxbills, and Weavers, and the commoner varieties

of Pheasants. One man did show me two Black-headed Siskins and a

dying Grackle which he kept under his writing desk for fear the police

should see them.


Unless one goes into the interior of Brazil, one sees very few birds,

except an occasional Humming Bird around the banana flowers in the

gardens, a few Spermophila Finches and small flocks of Brotogerys,

and Parrakeets at the tops of the high trees and palms, far too high up

to be able to distinguish their species.


I was also anxious to get hold of a few Scarlet Ibis but only once

did I see any of these and they were in a garden with some White-faced

Tree Ducks.


Tyrants of various species were extremely common in the inhabited

parts of Brazil and in some of the parks their cries were almost deafening.

Purple Grackles seemed to take the place of Starlings and one saw

Thrushes which were very reminiscent of our own birds. I think, as on

the Continent, these birds must be eaten, for I frequently saw, but never

sampled, “ Merle ” on the menus of various restaurants.


The only places where I saw any Brazilian birds offered for sale

were Rio Grande do Sul and Maceio, the former a delightful town just

inside a great lake or lagoon at the far south of Brazil. The birds were

in the very picturesque market place and they consisted of Naked-

throated Bellbirds and a few Red-crested Cardinals, several Thrushes

which I think were the Red-breasted (Turdus rufiventris), a few

Spermophila Finches of which there are a great many varieties in

Brazil, and a single Purple Grackle ; why these birds should have been

on sale when the laws regarding the sale of birds are so strict, I do not

know. I certainly saw a good many cage birds in Rio Grande do Sul

belonging to private people, these mainly consisted of Budgies, Canaries,

Red-crested Cardinals, the local Thrushes and an occasional Bellbird.

In fact when I was walking in the streets one Sunday, I heard the

discordant clanging of church bells and after a time they stopped,

except one which went on for a little while and then stopped and went

on again and, as we moved in the direction from whence the sound came,



