File:Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana (1910) (14749349481).jpg

Identifier: oursearchforwild00nile (find matches)
Title: Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Niles, Blair Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Natural history Birds
Publisher: New York, H. Holt and company

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Fig. 152. (A) Female Hoatzin flushed from her Nest; the MaleBird approaching. In the morning as the sun grew hotter the birds becamequiet and finally disappeared, not to be heard or seen againuntil afternoon. They spend the heat of the day sitting ontheir nests or perched on branches in the cooler, deeperrecesses of their linear jungle. The last view of them in the morning, as the heat becameintense, or late in the evening, usually revealed them squatted 370 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. on the branches in pairs close together. On moonlightnights however they were active and noisy, and came intothe open to feed. The habit of crouching or settling down onthe perch is very common with the Hoatzins, and it maybe due to the weakness of the feet and toes. I am inclined
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 153. (B) Female Hoatzin in the same Position, the Male hav-ing FLOWN NEARER. however to consider it in connection with the general awk-wardness in alighting and climbing, as a hint of the unadapta-bility of the large feet to the small size of the twigs andbranches among which they live. Inexplicable though it mayappear, the Hoatzin —although evidently unchanged in manyrespects through long epochs — yet is far from being per-fectly adapted to its present environment. It has a severe THE LIFE OF THE ABARY SAVANNAS. 371 struggle for existence, and the least increase of any foe orobstacle would result in its extinction. At the time of our arrival the Hoatzins had just begun tonest. They were utilizing old nests which, although soapparently flimsy in construction, yet were remarkably cohe-sive. The nests are almost indistinguishable from those ofthe Chows or Guiana Green Herons which were built inthe same situations. The latter were usually low over thewater, while the Hoatzins we

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