SOUTH AMERICA. 
91 
tail are black, and every other part of the body a SECOND 
flaming red. In Guiana, there is a species exactly- 1 
the same as this in shape, note, and economy, but 
differing in colour, its whole body being like black 
velvet; on its breast a tinge of red appears through 
the black. Thus nature has ordered this little 
Tangara to put on mourning to the north of the line, 
and wear scarlet to the south of it. 
For three months in the year the environs of Seasons. 
Pernambuco are animated beyond description. From 
November to March the weather is particularly fine; 
then it is that rich and poor, young and old, foreigners 
and natives, all issue from the city to enjoy the 
country till Lent approaches, when back they hie 
them. Villages and hamlets, where nothing before 
but rags was seen, now shine in all the elegance of 
dress; every house, every room, every shed become 
eligible places for those whom nothing but extreme 
necessity could have forced to live there a few weeks 
ago : some join in the merry dance, others saunter 
up and down the orange-groves; and towards 
evening the roads become a moving scene of silk and 
jewels. The gaming-tables have constant visitors ; 
there thousands are daily and nightly lost and won; 
parties even sit down to try their luck round the 
outside of the door as well as in the room :— 
“ Vestibulum ante ipsum primisque in faucibus aulae 
Luctus et ultrices, posuere sedilia curse.” 
About six or seven miles from Pernambuco stands Monteiro. 
a pretty little village called Monteiro; the river runs 
close by it, and its rural beauties seem to surpass all 
