12.07.2015 Views

PDF - Wallace Online

PDF - Wallace Online

PDF - Wallace Online

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

in ANIMAL LIFE IN THE TROPICAL FORESTS 271notes those points in which the forests of the equatorial zoneoffer different phenomena. Here, as in the case of plants, weexclude all zoological science, classifications, and nomenclature,except in as far as it is necessary for a clear understandingof the several groups of animals referred to. We shall thereforefollow no systematic order in our notes, except thatwhich would naturally arise from the abundance or prominenceof the objects themselves. We further suppose our travellerto have no prepossessions, and to have no favourite group, inthe search after which he passes by other objects which, inview of their frequent occurrence in the landscape, are reallymore important.General Aspect of the Animal Life of Equatorial ForestsPerhaps the most general impression produced by a firstacquaintance with the equatorial forests is the comparativeabsence of animal life. Beast, bird, and insect alike requirelooking for, and it very often happens that we look for themin vain. On this subject Mr. Bates, describing one of hisearly excursions into the primeval forests of the Amazonvalley, remarks as " follows We were : disappointed in notmeeting with any of the larger animals of the forest. Therewas no tumultuous movement or sound of life. We did notsee or hear monkeys, and no tapir or jaguar crossed our path.Birds also appeared to be exceedingly scarce." "Again I:afterwards saw reason to modify my opinion, founded on firstimpressions, with regard to the amount and variety of animallife in this and other parts of the Amazonian forests. Thereis, in fact, a great variety of mammals, birds, and reptiles, butthey are widely scattered and all excessively shy of man. Theregion is so extensive and uniform in the forest clothing of itssurface, that it is only at long intervals that animals are seenin abundance, where some particular spot is found which ismore attractive than others. Brazil, moreover, is throughoutpoor in terrestrial mammals, and the species are of small size ;they do not, therefore, form a conspicuous feature in theforests. The huntsman would be disappointed who expectedto find here flocks of animals similar to the buffalo-herds ofNorth America, or the swarms of antelopes and herds ofponderous pachyderms of Southern Africa. We often read

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!