They obtain their food from the calyx of the flowers, round which they flutter like butterflies, and indeed are very often mistaken for them in their rapid flight.

It is very seldom that they are seen on a branch or twig in a state of repose.
After passing through the valley, we reached the Serra, as the Brazilians term the summit of each mountain that they cross; the present one was 3,000 feet high.

A broad paved road, traversing virgin forests, runs up the side of the mountain.
I had always imagined that in virgin forests the trees had uncommonly thick and lofty trunks; I found that this was not here the case.

The vegetation is probably too luxuriant, and the larger trunks are suffocated and rot beneath the masses of smaller trees, bushes, creepers, and parasites.

The two latter description of plants are so abundant, and cover so completely the trees, that it is often impossible to see even the leaves, much less the stems and branches.