. Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana . Fig. 18. Wild Chachalaca near a Guanoco Hut. THE LAKE OF PITCH. 39 we were troubled scarcely at all with noxious insects. Jig-gers there were in moderate numbers but one could col-lect more in one day in Virginia than in a month here at thisseason. During our entire stay we saw only about threeor four minute ticks, while mosquitoes were absent, exceptat night. If we dug in rotten logs, we were sure to unearthcentipedes and scorpions, many of them, — but otherwise we. Fig. 19. Scorpi
. Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana . Fig. 18. Wild Chachalaca near a Guanoco Hut. THE LAKE OF PITCH. 39 we were troubled scarcely at all with noxious insects. Jig-gers there were in moderate numbers but one could col-lect more in one day in Virginia than in a month here at thisseason. During our entire stay we saw only about threeor four minute ticks, while mosquitoes were absent, exceptat night. If we dug in rotten logs, we were sure to unearthcentipedes and scorpions, many of them, — but otherwise we. Fig. 19. Scorpion and its Young taken from Miladys Shoe. rarely saw them. Once, indeed, a mother scorpion (Centru-ms mar garitatus) with half a hundred young ones on herback was discovered in a shoe, bringing to mind the oldnursery rhyme. We found that much of the jungle was almost impene-trable, and on one of our first excursions we were fortunateenough to find a means of making the birds come to us fromthe deeper recesses of the forest. As we left the doorway, asilent little shadow filled into the pommcrosa tree in front ofus, and soon among the glossy leaves came a sound which wc 40 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. had heard day and night, but the author of which had thusfar evaded us. It is impossible to put into words, but it maybe imitated by a monotone whistle, of about four notes to thesecond, of A above middle C. The glasses showed a mite of aPygmy Owl60 glaring at us with wide yellow eyes, and firmlyclutching a dead bird, half as large as himself. Later, whenstanding at the edge
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