which are mostly different from those of the dense primaeval
forests. I will, therefore, give an account of what we observed
of the animal world during our explorations in the immediate
neighbourhood of Para.

The number and beauty of the birds and insects did not at first
equal our expectations. The majority of the birds we saw were
small and obscurely coloured; they were indeed similar, in
general appearance, to such as are met with in country places in
England. Occasionally a flock of small parroquets, green, with a
patch of yellow on the forehead, would come at early morning to
the trees near the Estrada. They would feed quietly, sometimes
chattering in subdued tones, but setting up a harsh scream, and
flying off, on being disturbed. Hummingbirds we did not see at
this time, although I afterwards found them by hundreds when
certain trees were in flower. Vultures we only saw at a distance,
sweeping round at a great height, over the public slaughter-
houses. Several flycatchers, finches, ant-thrushes, a tribe of
plainly-coloured birds, intermediate in structure between
flycatchers and thrushes, some of which startle the new-comer by
their extraordinary notes emitted from their places of
concealment in the dense thickets; and also tanagers, and other
small birds, inhabited the neighbourhood. None of these had a
pleasing song, except a little brown wren (Troglodytes furvus),
whose voice and melody resemble those of our English robin. It is
often seen hopping and climbing about the walls and roofs of
houses and on trees in their vicinity. Its song is more
frequently heard in the rainy season, when the Monguba trees shed
their leaves. At those times the Estrada das Mongubeiras has an
appearance quite unusual in a tropical country. The tree is one