Mount Everard lies about fifty miles from Morawhanna up the Barima River and consists of a ramshackle hotel and several logies—the latter being mere open sheds from whose rafters hammocks may be hung. The whole country hereabouts is low, except at this point where two small conical hills arise—one on each side of the river—bearing the high-sounding names of Mounts Everard and Terminus. The forest has been partly cleared from these and we attempted to explore the neighboring country. We soon gave it up as the underbrush was too thick, and even when we forced a way through it there was no footing but muddy water. Cowpaths led over the “mounts” which seemed to be composed of red, sticky clay. Half way up Mount Everard we found an enormous terrestrial ants’ nest, some fifteen feet across, bare of vegetation and with well-marked roads, four to six inches wide, leading out into the jungle. A little prodding with a stick brought out scores of huge-jawed soldiers (_Atta cephalotes_). [Illustration: FIG. 69. THREE YEAR OLDS AT HOME IN THEIR WOOD-SKIN.] The most interesting birds were the well-named Magpie Tanagers which flashed past now and then. The long, graduated tail, the glossy black and white plumage and the conspicuous white iris mark this as one of the most striking of the Tanagers. The call-note was loud and harsh but the tones of those we saw in captivity and of one individual which we brought back alive were pleasant and modulated. Euphonias, Blue,[143] Palm,[144] and Silver-beak[146] Tanagers and Red-underwing Doves[10] were all nesting close to the settlement, while in a good-sized tree whose branches were brushing against the “hotel” windows were some hundred nests of Cassiques—the Red[152] and the Yellow-backed[151] in about equal numbers. When the two were seen fighting, the Red-backed seemed invariably to have the better of it. The natives here think the different colors mark the two sexes. [Illustration: FIG. 70. MOUNT EVERARD.]