Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/371

 gentlemen—it is said the ladies also—spend the sultry hours of midday bathing in the cold and bracing waters. This place is classic ground to the Naturalist, from having been a favourite spot with the celebrated travellers Spix and Martius, during their stay at Barra in 1820. Von Martius was so much impressed by its magical beauty that he commemorated the visit by making a sketch of the scenery serve as background in one of the plates of his great work on the palms.

Birds and insects, however, were scarce amidst these charming sylvan scenes. I often traversed the whole distance from Barra to the waterfall, about two miles by the forest road, without seeing or hearing a bird, or meeting with so many as a score of Lepidopterous and Coleopterous insects. In the thinner woods near the borders of the forest many pretty little blue and green creepers of the Dacnidæ group, were daily seen feeding on berries; and a few very handsome birds occurred in the forest. But the latter were so rare that we could obtain them only by employing a native hunter; who used to spend a whole day, and go a great distance, to obtain two or three specimens. In this way I obtained, amongst others, specimens of the Trogon pavoninus (the Suruquá grande of the natives), a most beautiful creature, having soft golden green plumage, red breast, and an orange-coloured beak; also the Ampelis Pompadoura, a rich glossy-purple chatterer with wings of a snowy-white hue. The borders of the forest yielded me more insects also than the shady central pathways. A few species occurred which I had previously found at Obydos and Serpa, but certain kinds