ions charm the ear of the astonished
traveller, who, as if arrested by an invisible power, stops to listen to
the syren, unmindful of the danger of the threatening storm. On old
decayed stumps of trees the busy creeper[84] and the variegated
woodpecker are seen pecking the insects from under the loose bark, or by
their tapping bring them out of their concealed crevices; while the
red-tailed potter-bird (_Opetiorynchus ruficandus_, Pr. Max.) builds his
dwelling of potter's clay, or loam, as firmly as if it were destined to
last for ever. The pouched starlings[85] hang their nests, often four or
five feet long, on the slender branches of trees, where they swing to
and fro with the slightest breath of wind. Like a dazzling flash of
colored light the colibri (humming-bird) appears and disappears. No
combination of gorgeous coloring can exceed that which is presented in
the plumage of the golden-tailed humming or fly-bird (_Trochilus
chrysurus_, Cuv.) which haunts the warm primeval forests, but it is
still more frequently found in the pure atmosphere of the ceja-girded
Montanas. The silky cuckoo (_Trogon heliothrix_, Tsch.) retires into the
thickest masses of foliage, from which its soft rose-colored plumage
peeps out like a flower. The cry of the voracious chuquimbis[86]
accompanies the traveller from his first steps in the Montanas to his
entrance into the primeval forests, where he finds their relative, _Dios
te de_.[87] This bird accompanies its significant cry by throwing back
its head and making a kind of rocking movement of its body. The Indians,
who are always disposed to connect superstitious ideas with the natural
objects they see around them, believe that some great misfortune will
befall any one who may shoot this bird, because it utters the sacred
word, _Dios_. Long trains of green parrots fill the air with their noisy
chattering. One kind of these birds (_Ps. mercenarius_, Tsch.) is
remarkable for regular migrations. Every morning they sally forth in
flocks from the upper to the lower forests, where they pass the day, and
they regularly return before sunset to their roosting-places. From year
to year these parrots leave their night quarters daily at the same hour,
and return with equal punctuality before sunset. This regularity of
departing and returning has caused the natives to give them the name of
_Jornaleros_ (day-laborers). From the depth of the forests sounds often
arise which resemble human voices, and th