566 On the Birds of Bril'tsk Giriaiia. 



and then fly oft' to a safe distance. The wild fruits attract 

 the Coiumou Pigeon {Co/uiuba nijina) sometimes in great 

 numbers ; they are generally fat and make veiy good eating. 



The Formicariidffi oi" Ant-Tlirnslies are fairly well re- 

 presented in Guiana. In walking through the bush on(! 

 often comes to a spot where a dozen or more of these birds 

 may be seen liopping and twittering about in an excited 

 manner among the undergrowth, the ground below swarming 

 with ants. The Golden Warbler {Dendroeca (estiva) is called 

 the "Canary" in British Guiana, rather on account of its 

 bright yellow colour, I should surmise, than from its song, 

 which is not of the first order. 



The Sauderling {Ca/idris arenuria) visits the colony in 

 great numbers. The Spotted Sandpiper {Tringoides mucn- 

 lurivs) frequents the partially-Hooded meadows and sides of 

 trenches. The Turnstone {^Strepsilas interpres) also visits 

 the colony. Some years ago the American Golden Plover 

 {Charadrnis duminicus) afibrded very good shooting, but 1 was 

 informed that the last few seasons they have not been 

 plentiful. 



No remarks on the birds of British Guiana would be com- 

 plete without reference to that most peculiar bird the OpistJto- 

 comus cristatus, called variously the " Hoatzin," '' Hauna,^^ 

 " Canje Pheasant," and " Stink-bird." I must say that I 

 never found the smell of these birds so bad as I had been 

 led to believe; it reminds one of a rather strong cow-shed. 

 It has been found that on cutting out the crop, as soon as 

 the bii'd is dead, very little unpleasant odour remains. I 

 obtained all my specimens close to a creek, at the back of 

 Albion Plantation, in the Berbice district. There must 

 have been a score of the birds in a clump of tall thorny 

 bushes, and at the first shot several of them tumbled (I can 

 hardly say they flew) out of the bushes on to the branches of 

 a tree which was growing in the middle of the clump. After 

 a couple more shots they tumbled back again into the bushes 

 for safety. Of the four birds obtained on the 4th of January 

 all were moulting. 



The sj)ecies mentioned in this paper are only a small pro- 



