the iridescent tones of their wings
and bodies?

That is what people imagine. The following is what you really see.

The trees, overcrowded everywhere, far from being gigantic, are, instead,
mean-looking and anaemic--not unlike the pallid, overgrown youth of the
over-populated slums of a great city. Orchids? Yes, there are plenty of
orchids about, but you never see them unless you go on a special search
for them with a high ladder or some other such means of climbing high
trees. In any case, you would not detect them unless you had the eye of
an expert. It is well not to forget that in tropical climates, as in
temperate zones, plants are not always in bloom when you happen to be
passing. As for the butterflies, you seldom see any at all in the actual
forest.

Perhaps one of the most common birds of the Amazon is a kind of
grey-eyed, noisy, mimicking magpie, locally called _guache_ or _japim_ or
_jappelin_ (_Cassicus icterranotus_), quite amusing with its energetic
movements, its observant habits, its familiar interest in everything and
everybody, and its facility for reproducing correctly enough sounds which
momentarily attract its attention. The wonderful activity of its slender
body, clothed in velvety black, neatly-groomed yellow feathers, and its
charming wickedness make it, perhaps, one of the most attractive birds
near towns and settlements on the river. It builds elongated nests which
are 20 to 30 in. in length, the entrance to which is in the lower
portion. They are suspended from the branches of trees. As I have said,
the large bay near the mouth of the Amazon has been named in honour of
this bird.

[Illustration: Campas Indian Woman.]

Another bird of great interest is the _araruna_ (or _Macrocerus
hyacinthinus_), a magnificent macaw of great size, which is perhaps the
rarest and most beautiful found in the interior of Brazil from the
northern end of the central plateau as far as the Amazon River. Its
feathers are of a soft, metallic, dark greyish-blue, almost black,
except round the eyes, where the uncovered white skin shows through. I
have seen these birds in flight on four or five different occasions on
the Tapajoz River, and tried in vain to secure a specimen. I generally
saw them in couples, flying at a great height and speed. These birds are
extremely intelligent, and become most affectionate and faithful
companions to a considerate master. In fact, they will attack any one
endeavouring to get nea