406 
BIRD-LIFE. 
Parrots, Toucans, and others, leave the forest, where 
they live in pairs, at a certain season, called by the 
Brazilians, u O tempo dos passarinhos,” or the “ bird 
season,” and uniting in large flocks advance boldly in 
the open country. Certain especial fruits will tempt the 
Macaw, usually so very shy, far from the borders of the 
forest; Parakeets attack the plantations of Indian corn 
in large flocks; the small Warblers, Starlings and 
Toucans lay the above-named fruit-trees under heavy 
contribution; Finches and Grosbeaks levy their tax on 
the rice-fields. These migrations, like those in the north, 
take place after the breeding season, in the beginning of 
summer, if one may use such a term. 
Besides the spontaneous migration of birds there is yet 
another kind of travel, which we suspect is not wholly an 
act of free will: I allude to that which gives us our cast¬ 
away visitors. Thus, we have often observed single 
specimens of a species in a country hundreds of miles 
from its native land; in some cases even separated from 
home by the whole breadth of the Atlantic Ocean. 
The Cream-coloured Courser, a native of the sandy 
deserts of Africa; the Sand Grouse of Spain; the 
Houbara Bustard (Otis houbara), bred in the Steppes of 
South-western Asia,—have all been shot once or oftener 
in Germany; the Glossy Ibis of Hungary, in Iceland; 
the American Wood Duck has been killed near Berlin, 
and the Giant Petrel found dead on the Bhine. Arctic 
birds have been found on the coast of Spain; Siberian 
species have been met with in the west of Europe; sea 
birds of all sizes have been seen far inland; and land 
birds on small islands in the middle of the ocean. The 
number of American birds found cast away in Europe is 
very considerable. 
