BRITISH GUIANA (1) 101 
River, I set off by the coastal railway. The carriages were provided 
with mosquito-netting windows, and a few stations before reach- 
ing my destination it was forcibly brought home to me that these 
were not provided merely for ornamentation. Before the train had 
even come to a standstill at one station, mosquitoes swarmed in in 
hundreds through the open windows, settling immediately on 
ladies’ legs and men’s ankles, injecting their needle-like proboscises 
and sucking blood avidly. This was the first time I had met with 
swarms of diurnal mosquitoes, and their mode of attack was 
direct—none of them hovering while looking for a favorable feed- 
ing-place, as in the case of their nocturnal cousins. What could 
one do against this bloodthirsty army? The answer is “Precious 
little.” The mosquito-proof windows were soon raised, but it was 
too late; the rest of the journey was spent in an ankle-slapping 
mosquito-squashing campaign. 
Hoatzins are as fixed in their abode as rabbits in their burrows, 
and one can be directed to a colony with the same certainty of 
finding them as if being directed to a certain street in a town. 
Nevertheless, they are found in widely separated localities such as 
British Guiana, north Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and 
Bolivia. 
The hoatzin is entirely a leaf-eater—the scientist would prefer 
to call it phyllophagous—and is dependent on two plants for its 
sustenance; the favorite is the Pimpler Thorn which grows along 
tidal creeks. Being a voracious feeder it spends much of its time 
cramming itself with the leaves of this tree, and it also utilizes the 
branches which hang over the water for nesting purposes. Its 
other food plant is the Giant Caladium which is common every- 
where in the swamps. 
The hoatzin’s chief claim to fame lies in the fact that it is a link 
with the primitive lizard-tailed and toothed birds of the dim past 
in that the young, which are born naked, are furnished with 
wing-hooks on the extremities of the wing-bones known as the 
thumb and index finger. With the aid of these hooks and their 
feet the young can climb about the branches surrounding their 
nest. The necessity for this provision becomes evident as soon as 
one makes any attempt to take one of these queer creatures from 
the nest. It may climb a little way when danger is at hand, and 
