Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/354

 314 ZOOLOGY OF

forests, found in all parts of the Amazon. They have very small unbranched horns.

Mazama campestrisl — The " Viado galera," or horned deer of the Rio Branco, is probably of this species. It has small branched horns, and inhabits the open plains, never the thick forests.

Dicotylestaiapi. The smaller wild Hog. Taititu of the Indians.

D. labiatus ? — The larger species, called by the natives " Taiacu."

There seems to be also a third species, of the same size as the last.

Arctopitliecus flaccidus ? Preguiga real. Ai, (Lingoa Geral). The great Sloth.

Bradypus torquatus. Ai, (Lingoa Geral). — These and some other species of sloths are not uncommon. They feed entirely on leaves, preferring those of the Cecropias. They are frequently attacked by the harpy eagle, and are also eaten by the Indians.

Myrmecophagajubata. Tamandua assu, (Lingoa Geral). "The great Ant-eater." — This animal is rare, but widely distributed. During rain it turns its long bushy tail up over its back and stands still ; the Indians, when they meet with one, rustle the leaves, and it thinks rain is falling, and turning up its tail, they take the opportunity of killing it by a blow on the head with a stick. It feeds on the large termites, or white ants, tearing up with its powerful claws the earth and rotten wood in which their nests are made. The Indians positively assert that it sometimes kills the jaguar, embracing it and forcing in its enormous claws, till they mutually destroy each other. They also declare that these animals are all females, and believe that the male is the " curupira," or demon of the forests : the peculiar organisation of the animal has probably led to this error. It lives entirely on the ground.

Tamandiia tetradactylus ? The smaller Prehensile-tailed Ant-eater. — This animal is entirely arboreal, feeding on the tree termites ; it has no nest, and sleeps in a fork of a tree with its head bent under its body.

Cyclothurus didactylus. Tamandudi, (Lingoa Geral). The small Silky-haired Ant-eater, — is arboreal, and rather abundant. There is another species much smaller, and as white as cotton ; but it is rare, and I never met with it.