The Naturalist on the River Amazons [219]
Tocano to go free about the house, contrary to my usual practice with pet animals, he never, however, mounted my working- table after a smart correction which he received the first time he did it. He used to sleep on the top of a box in a corner of the room, in the usual position of these birds, namely, with the long tail laid right over on the back, and the beak thrust underneath the wing. He ate of everything that we eat; beef, turtle, fish, farinha, fruit, and was a constant attendant at our table--a cloth spread on a mat. His appetite was most ravenous, and his powers of digestion quite wonderful. He got to know the meal hours to a nicety, and we found it very difficult, after the first week or two, to keep him away from the dining-room, where he had become very impudent and troublesome. We tried to shut him out by enclosing him in the backyard, which was separated by a high fence from the street on which our front door opened, but he used to climb the fence and hop round by a long circuit to the dining-room, making his appearance with the greatest punctuality as the meal was placed on the table. He acquired the habit, afterwards, of rambling about the street near our house, and one day he was stolen, so we gave him up for lost. But two days afterwards he stepped through the open doorway at dinner hour, with his old gait, and sly magpie-like expression, having escaped from the house where he had been guarded by the person who had stolen him, and which was situated at the further end of the village.
The Curl-crested Toucan (Pteroglossus Beauharnaisii).--Of the four smaller Toucans, or Arassaris, found near Ega, the Pteroglossus flavirostris is perhaps the most beautiful in colours, its breast being adorned with broad belts of rich crimson and black; but the most curious species, by far, is the Curl-crested, or Beauharnais Toucan. The feathers on the head of this singular bird are transformed into thin, horny plates, of a lustrous black colour, curled up at the ends, and resembling shavings of steel or ebony-wood: the curly crest being arranged on the crown in the form of a wig. Mr. Wallace and I first met with this species, on ascending the Amazons, at the mouth of the Solimoens; from that point it continues as a rather common bird on the terra firma, at least on the south side of the river as far as Fonte Boa, but I did not hear of its being found further to the west. It appears in large flocks in the forests near Ega in May and June, when it has completed its moult. I did not find these bands congregated at fruit-trees, but always wandering through the forest, hopping from branch to branch among the lower trees, and partly concealed among the foliage. None of the Arassaris, to my knowledge, make a yelping noise like that uttered by the larger Toucans (Ramphastos); the notes of the curl-crested species are very singular, resembling the croaking of frogs. I had an amusing adventure one day with these birds. I had shot one from a rather high tree in a dark glen in the forest, and entered the thicket where the bird had fallen to secure my booty. It was only wounded, and on my attempting to seize it, set up a loud scream. In an instant, as if by magic, the shady nook seemed alive with these birds, although there was certainly none visible when I entered the jungle. They descended towards me, hopping from bough to bough, some of them swinging on the loops and cables of woody lianas, and all croaking and fluttering their wings like so many furies. If I had had a long stick in my hand I could have knocked several of them over. After killing the wounded one, I began to prepare for obtaining more specimens and punishing the viragos for their boldness; but the screaming of their companion having ceased, they remounted the trees, and before I could reload, every one of them had disappeared.
Insects.--Upwards of 7000 species of insects were found in the neighbourhood of Ega. I must confine myself in this place to a few remarks on the order Lepidoptera, and on the ants, several kinds of which, found chiefly on the Upper Amazons,
The Curl-crested Toucan (Pteroglossus Beauharnaisii).--Of the four smaller Toucans, or Arassaris, found near Ega, the Pteroglossus flavirostris is perhaps the most beautiful in colours, its breast being adorned with broad belts of rich crimson and black; but the most curious species, by far, is the Curl-crested, or Beauharnais Toucan. The feathers on the head of this singular bird are transformed into thin, horny plates, of a lustrous black colour, curled up at the ends, and resembling shavings of steel or ebony-wood: the curly crest being arranged on the crown in the form of a wig. Mr. Wallace and I first met with this species, on ascending the Amazons, at the mouth of the Solimoens; from that point it continues as a rather common bird on the terra firma, at least on the south side of the river as far as Fonte Boa, but I did not hear of its being found further to the west. It appears in large flocks in the forests near Ega in May and June, when it has completed its moult. I did not find these bands congregated at fruit-trees, but always wandering through the forest, hopping from branch to branch among the lower trees, and partly concealed among the foliage. None of the Arassaris, to my knowledge, make a yelping noise like that uttered by the larger Toucans (Ramphastos); the notes of the curl-crested species are very singular, resembling the croaking of frogs. I had an amusing adventure one day with these birds. I had shot one from a rather high tree in a dark glen in the forest, and entered the thicket where the bird had fallen to secure my booty. It was only wounded, and on my attempting to seize it, set up a loud scream. In an instant, as if by magic, the shady nook seemed alive with these birds, although there was certainly none visible when I entered the jungle. They descended towards me, hopping from bough to bough, some of them swinging on the loops and cables of woody lianas, and all croaking and fluttering their wings like so many furies. If I had had a long stick in my hand I could have knocked several of them over. After killing the wounded one, I began to prepare for obtaining more specimens and punishing the viragos for their boldness; but the screaming of their companion having ceased, they remounted the trees, and before I could reload, every one of them had disappeared.
Insects.--Upwards of 7000 species of insects were found in the neighbourhood of Ega. I must confine myself in this place to a few remarks on the order Lepidoptera, and on the ants, several kinds of which, found chiefly on the Upper Amazons,