Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 84.djvu/297

Rh trees have wide props or buttresses extending out from their bases which stiffen them against the fury of tropical storms. Some trees have thick bark which is scaled, or smooth, or ridged, or ringed, or spiny, or what-not; some scarcely have bark at all, but are smooth and naked. Palms not only grow in the conventional form, but many masquerade as climbing vines or epiphytes. Everywhere there is specialization and adaptation along many lines.

The humid shade of the forest offers shelter to many animals which, like the plants, show a great variety of adaptations. A large number of animals depend directly on the plants for food. The lowly termites are quick to appropriate any dead or diseased parts; vegetarian ants swarm everywhere. Long-tailed Kinkajous come forth at night to climb about in the mango trees; wood rats, squirrels and agoutis feed upon the. luscious aguacates (“alligator pears”). Many birds have become specialized for fruit eating: flocks of gaudy parrots squawk among the trees, resplendent toucans wipe their great beaks against the limbs which have borne their repasts. In addition to these specialists many other birds eat fruit when it is available: trogons flit shyly here and there, and conceited motmots perch so that they may proudly wag their beautiful tails from side to side. Yet the denizens of the tropical forest do not appear gaudy and highly colored. A parrot is indeed a splendid object when you hold him in your hand, but stand below a mango tree and you are amazed to find that it is practically impossible to see any of the flock which are squawking noisily through its foliage. Only by watching carefully for movement can you pick out a bird here and there.

Besides the animals which hunt in the trees many wander about over the ground beneath. These are usually not brightly colored. Tapirs were common about the plantation, and one was killed by the workmen during our stay. These pachyderms had regular trails like cow paths through the forest. Droves of peccaries rooted in the ground and we often saw places where they had been feeding, but that was all. Mr. Flye told us how he had once been treed by a drove of these ferocious “wild hogs” which stood about and gnashed their teeth for a couple of hours. Jaguars and tiger cats hunted in the forest. One day a small boy brought us an armadillo. Agoutis were common everywhere. Once, while I rested at the fork of a river a great agouti came to drink fifty feet below. My Colt was at my hip, but I did not have the heart to shoot him—so much at ease was he, so self-contained, and so in keeping with his forest. He took his drink and went away, never knowing that a strange gringo had watched. Another time we saw a troup of big red monkeys swinging along through the tops of the trees, but they quickly scampered away when they spied us. We always went armed with gun or pistol hoping that we might bag one of the larger mammals, but fate was against us. The large animals are extremely shy and their coloration