variations. The
mocking-bird, for such it was, afforded us infinite amusement during the
evening.

Another bird also made its appearance, called the red orpheus. It had a
reddish-brown plumage, with a fawn-coloured breast spotted with black.
It was about the same size as the mocking-bird, its note being very
similar to that of the European blackbird, but more sonorous and
melodious, and superior in some respects to that of the mocking-bird.
It is of an equally graceful form, and has the same long fine beak. We
found numbers of them in the forest among the cedars and myrtles, whose
fruit they eat, and where also they chase various winged insects. Both
these birds build their nests six or seven feet above the ground, on
thorny bushes, or in wild orange trees. The nests are composed of the
downy mosses of plants fastened together with the fibres of flax. The
eggs of the mocking-bird are blue with brown spots; those of the orpheus
are of a beautiful azure tint.

Scarcely had we turned in to our leaf-covered huts when I felt some
creatures crawling over me. I jumped up, and running to the fire, shook
off two or three horrid-looking spiders. My exclamations aroused my
companions, and they likewise found several of the same spiders crawling
over them. Tim cried out that he had been bitten, and that he felt an
extraordinary numbness in the limb. Lejoillie said immediately
afterwards that he also had suffered; and Jup, on seeing the creatures,
declared that they were the most venomous of spiders, and warned us that
if we went to sleep they might actually bite us to death. Lejoillie
recollected having heard of the species, which is called the
sleeping-spider. We accordingly, making up our fire, gathered closely
round it, hoping that the creatures would not approach its flames. On
examining the ground in the neighbourhood, we found a number of small
holes, out of which the spiders were creeping in search of prey; but, as
we had hoped, they did not venture close enough to the fire to reach us.
We spent an uncomfortable night, and I was glad when it came to my turn
to walk sentry. As I moved about I kept a watch on my feet, lest any of
the venomous insects should climb up my legs. The ground appeared
literally swarming with them. In the morning, when we came to examine
it, we found that the whole bank was mined below with the galleries of
thousands of these sleeping-spiders. So poisonous is their bite that it
some