brambles were too thick, the negro, felling-sword in hand, cleared
the way, and put thousands of birds to flight.

Minha was right to intercede for the little winged world which flew
about in the higher foliage, for the finest representations of
tropical ornithology were there to be seen--green parrots and
clamorous parakeets, which seemed to be the natural fruit of these
gigantic trees; humming-birds in all their varieties, light-blue and
ruby red; _"tisauras"_ with long scissors-like tails, looking like
detached flowers which the wind blew from branch to branch;
blackbirds, with orange plumage bound with brown; golden-edged
beccaficos; and _"sabias,"_ black as crows; all united in a deafening
concert of shrieks and whistles. The long beak of the toucan stood
out against the golden clusters of the _"quiriris,"_ and the
treepeckers or woodpeckers of Brazil wagged their little heads,
speckled all over with their purple spots. It was truly a scene of
enchantment.

But all were silent and went into hiding when above the tops of the
trees there grated like a rusty weathercock the _"alma de gato"_ or
"soul of the cat," a kind of light fawn-colored sparrow-hawk. If he
proudly hooted, displaying in the air the long white plumes of his
tail, he in his turn meekly took to flight when in the loftier
heights there appeared the _"gaviao,"_ the large white-headed eagle,
the terror of the whole winged population of these woods.

Minha made Manoel admire the natural wonders which could not be found
in their simplicity in the more civilized provinces of the east. He
listened to her more with his eyes than his ears, for the cries and
the songs of these thousands of birds were every now and then so