d small, swarm in such multitudes over the
corn-fields, and in the environs, that they may almost be called the
great plague of the country. One of the finest is the little
_Turtuli_ (_Chaemepelia gracilis_, Tsch.), on the wing of which
there is a row of very beautiful shining violet spots. The _Cuculi_,
one of the largest pigeons, is a great favorite. It is kept much in
cages. Its song, which is monotonous, yet very melodious, is kept up
from the earliest hours of the morning until midday, and it begins
again nearly at sunset. The song consists merely of a threefold
repetition of _cu-cu-li_. After a pause, it resumes the song again.
There are, however, some of those birds which repeat the _cuculi_
oftener than thrice, and their price increases according to the
number of their uninterrupted repetitions, which seldom exceed five
or six. In Cocachacra, however, I heard one of these birds which
repeated its _cuculi_ fourteen times. The owner would not sell it
under fourteen gold ounces.

The amphibia on the Peruvian coast are proportionally much better
represented than the two foregoing classes. The gigantic tortoises
(_Chelonia imbricata_ and _Ch. midas_, Schweig.) visit in great
numbers the few little frequented inlets. The elephant tortoise
(_Testudo Schweigeri_) is often found on some islands, and in the
marshy mouths of several rivers.

Two kinds of Crocodiles (_Champsa sclerops_ and _Ch. fissipes_, Wagl.)
inhabit the Rio de la Chira. They grow to the length of fourteen
or fifteen feet.

Among the lizard class of reptiles, very large bright green Iguanas are
found on the south coast; for instance, in the Caletas near Merillones,
&c.; but there are great numbers of the land Agama, of which I found
several new species, viz., _Steirolepis tigris_, _thoracica_,
_quadrivittata_, _xanthostigma_, Tsch.; _Liolaemus elegans_, Tsch.;
_Ctenoblepharys adspersa_, Tsch., &c., &c. I have already mentioned the
Gecko, called the _Salamanqueja_.

Serpents upon the whole are rather seldom seen. They belong to
different kinds, some poisonous, some innoxious (for example,
_Zacholus_, _Psammophis_, _Oxyrrhopus_, _Siphlophis_, _Ophis_, _Elaps_,
&c., &c.). A very poisonous viper (_Echidna ocellata_, Tsch.) inhabits
the sugar-cane fields. Its bite is almost instantaneously mortal.

The genuine frog is not to be found on the coast, and of the bladder
frog only two kinds are known (_Cystignathus roseus_ and _nodosus_,
Dum. Bibr.). I have