as and creeping vines,
in the midst of which the flowers of the Bignonia, with its open,
trumpet-shaped corolla, were conspicuous. The capim was bright with the
blossoms of the mallow growing in its midst, and was often edged with
the broad-leaved Aninga, a large aquatic Arum.

Through such a forest, where the animal life was no less rich and varied
than the vegetation, our boat glided slowly for hours. The number and
variety of birds struck me with astonishment. The coarse sedgy grasses
on either side were full of water birds, one of the most common of which
was a small chestnut-brown wading bird, the Jacana (Parra), whose toes
are immensely long in proportion to its size, enabling it to run upon
the surface of the aquatic vegetation, as if it were solid ground. It
was in the month of January, their breeding season, and at every turn of
the boat we started them up in pairs. Their flat, open nests generally
contained five flesh-colored eggs, streaked in zigzag with dark brown
lines. The other waders were a snow-white heron, another ash-colored,
smaller species, and a large white stork. The ash-colored herons were
always in pairs, the white one always single, standing quiet and alone
on the edge of the water, or half hidden in the green capim. The trees
and bushes were full of small warbler-like birds, which it would be
difficult to characterize separately. To the ordinary observer they
might seem like the small birds of our woods; but there was one species
among them which attracted my attention by its numbers, and also because
it builds the most extraordinary nest, considering the size of the bird
itself, that I have ever seen. It is known among the country people by
two names, as the Pedreiro or the Forneiro, both names referring, as
will be seen, to the nature of its habitation. This singular nest is
built of clay, and is as hard as stone (_pedra_), while it has the form
of the round mandioca oven (_forno_) in which the country people prepare
their farinha, or flour, made from the mandioca root. It is about a
foot in diameter, and stands edgewise upon a branch, or in the crotch of
a tree. Among the smaller birds, I noticed bright Tanagers, and also a
species resembling the Canary. Besides these, there were the wagtails,
the black and white widow finches, the hang-nests, or Jape, as they are
called here, with their pendent bag-like dwellings, and the familiar
"Bem ti vi." Humming-birds, which we are always apt to assoc