Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/72

 belonging to the same genus, hop about the grass, enlivening the place with a few musical notes. The Carashúe (Mimus) also then resumes its mellow, blackbird-like song; and two or three species of humming-bird, none of which however are peculiar to the district, flit about from tree to tree. On the other hand, the little blue and yellow-striped lizards, which abound amongst the herbage during the scorching heats of midday, retreat towards this hour to their hiding-places; together with the day-flying insects and the numerous campo butterflies. Some of these latter resemble greatly our English species found in heathy places, namely, a fritillary, Argynnis (Euptoieta) Hegesia, and two smaller kinds, which are deceptively like the little Nemeobius Lucina. After sunset the air becomes delightfully cool and fragrant with fruits and flowers. The nocturnal animals then come forth. A monstrous hairy spider, five inches in expanse (Mygale Blondii), of a brown colour with yellowish lines along its stout legs—which is very common here, inhabiting broad tubular galleries smoothly lined with silken web—may be then caught on the watch at the mouth of its burrow. It is only seen at night, and I think does not wander far from its den; the gallery is about two inches in diameter, and runs in a slanting direction, about two feet from the surface of the soil. As soon as it is night, swarms of goatsuckers suddenly make their appearance, wheeling about in a noiseless, ghostly manner, in chase of night-flying insects. They sometimes descend and settle on a low branch, or even on the pathway close to where