Sydney Porter—Notes from South America



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could reach a depth where it was able to swim. I have seldom seen a bird

so ungainly on land as this one.


One of the most beautiful birds which I saw in Brazil was the Widow-

tyrant, a bird which at a distance looked like a large cabbage white

butterfly. In fact so butterfly-like is its flight that at first I mistook

it for a huge white butterfly. It has a habit of perching on wire fences

or telegraph wires on the sides of the road. Tyrants of many species

are very common in all parts of Brazil.


One of the most interesting places visited, at least as far as local

colour was concerned, was Maceio, a small port in the north of Brazil

which still retains much of its old Portuguese atmosphere and is seldom

visited by European travellers. Here there were birds in abundance,

expecially in the market, in fact almost every stall-holder seemed to

have one or more as a pet. The variety, however, was not very great, and

the most commonly kept birds were various kinds of the Spermophila

Finches, one species in particular, a black and chestnut bird with a

huge thick beak, seemed to be an exceptionally sweet singer ; there

were also Saffron Finches and Red-headed Cardinals. In one place,

a kind of lottery exchange, there was a Bellbird in the transitional

plumage, which was white spotted with green. It seemed to be in a

perfect frenzy to make itself heard above the general hubbub of the

swarming crowds and in this it seemed quite successful for its clanging

notes could be heard several streets away. The call of a Bellbird when

heard at close quarters is terribly penetrating and makes one’s ears

ring for a long time afterwards. There were also some beautiful blue¬

eyed Black and Yellow Cassiques, pouring forth volumes of song. In

fact all the hundreds of caged birds I saw seemed to be singing. In the

extremely quaint and picturesque market place, where one could buy

anything from snake skins to sewing machines, and where every old

nigger woman seemed to be smoking a huge pipe, there was but a

single bird stall, here were only a few Archbishop Tanagers, Red-headed

Cardinals, Cassiques, Saffron Finches and a good many varieties of

Spermophila Finches.


I have never seen so many cage birds anywhere as in this remote

town ; every house seemed to have one or more cages and even the

ships in the bay had them to. All the birds appeared to be well looked

after and to be singing.



