There is more variety of animals in these regions than in the mountainous parts; but they have few peculiarities of character. The swift-footed roe of the Cordillera roams here and dwells in the thickets, avoiding the warm forest. The dark brown coati (_Nasua montana_, Tsch.) howls, and digs at the roots of trees in search of food; the shy opossum crawls fearfully under the foliage; the lazy armadillo creeps into his hole; but the ounce and the lion seldom stray hither to contest with the black bear (_Ursus frugilegus_, Tsch.) the possession of his territory. The little hairy tapir (_Tapirus villosus_, Wagn.) ventures only at twilight out of his close ambush to forage in the long grass.
Of the birds there is not much variety of species; but all are remarkable for gay-colored plumage. Among the most characteristic of these districts are the red-bellied tanagra (_Tanagra igniventris_, Orb.), the fire-colored pyranga (_Phoenisoma bivittata_, Tsch.), two species of the crow, one of which is of a fine blue color (_Cyanocorax viridicyanus_, G. R. Gray), the other green on the back and bright yellow on the belly (_Cyanoc. peruanus_, Cab.). The Indians call the latter _Quienquien_, as it utters a sort of screaming sound resembling these syllables. Individual birds belonging to the Penelope family (_P. rufiventris_ and _adspersa_, Tsch.) and the green pepper-eater (_Pteroglossus cæruleo-cinctus_, Tsch., _Pt. atrogularis_, Sturm.) are found in the lower forests.
Proceeding still further downward we at length reach the _Montaña_. The Peruvians apply this name to the vast aboriginal forests which extend across the whole country from north to south along the eastern foot of the Andes. Those which lie higher, and in which the spaces between the lofty trees are overgrown with thick masses of bushes and twining plants, are called by the natives simply _Montañas_. Those which are free from these intermediate masses of vegetation they call _Montañas reales_ (royal mountains). At first sight they produce the impression of a virgin forest of oaks.
The distance from the Ceja to the district properly called the Montaña is very various at different points. In some parts it takes six or eight days' hard riding; in other directions the traveller may, in the morning, leave the snow-covered Puna huts, and at sunset, on the uninhabited margin of the primeval forest, he may taste pine-apples and bananas of his own gathering. Such a day certainly deserves to form an epoch in his life; for in the course of a few hours he passes through the most opposite climates of the earth, and the gradual progression of the development of the vegetable world is spread out in visible reality before him.