escape;
then, whizzing and grunting, they surround the stem, and with their
snouts turn up the earth round the root, as if intending to pull down
the tree and so get at their enemy. The stag lurks in the thicket to
withdraw from the eyes of the greedy ounce; but towards evening he
leaves his hiding place, and sometimes strays beyond the boundary of the
forest; he ventures into the maize fields of the plantations, where he
tarries until night is far advanced.

The same diversity of nature and habits is seen in the numerous hosts of
birds that inhabit the leafy canopies of the forest. On the loftiest
trees, or on detached rocks, eagles, kites, and falcons, build their
eyries. The most formidable of these birds of prey, both for boldness
and strength, the _Morphnus harpyia_, Cab., darts down on the largest
animals, and fears not to encounter the fiercest inhabitants of the
forest. The owl (_Noctua_, _Scops_, _Strix_), and the goat-milker
(_Caprimulgus_, _Hydropsalis_, _Chordiles_), fly with softly flapping
wings to their hunting quarters to surprise their victims while asleep.
In the hilly parts of the Montanas the black ox-bird (_Cephalopterus
ornatus_, Geoff.), the _Toropishu_ of the Indians, fills the forest with
his distant bellow, similar to the roaring of a bull. The _Tunqui_[82]
inhabits the same district. This bird is of the size of a cock; the body
is bright red, but the wings are black. The head is surmounted by a tuft
of red feathers, beneath which the orange bill projects with a slight
curve. It lives sociably with other birds in thickets, or among Cinchona
trees, the fruit of which is part of its food. Its harsh cry resembles
the grunt of the hog, and forms a striking contrast to its beautiful
plumage. Numberless fly-catchers and shrikes (_Muscicapidae_ and
_Laniadae_) hover on tree and bush, watching for the passing insects,
which they snatch up with extraordinary dexterity. Finches twitter on
the summits of the loftiest trees beyond the reach of the hunter's shot:
they are distinguished, like the _Ampelidae_, who, however, live amongst
the lower bushes, by the lively and almost dazzling colors of their
feathers. In modest plumage of cinnamon-brown, with head and neck of
dark olive, the _Organista_[83] raises, in the most woody parts of the
forest, her enchanting song, which is usually the prognostic of an
approaching storm. The tender, melancholy strains and the singular
clearness of the innumerable modulat