102 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
then without hesitation plunge into the water below and disappear 
like a grebe. Somewhere it will be hiding and watching, and when 
all is clear this tiny naked soul will clamber out and regain the 
nest by the skilful use of its feet and wing-hooks. When hoatzins 
are sufficiently feathered to fly they never swim or dive, or, for 
that matter, descend to the water’s edge. This provision in the 
juvenile is merely to save it from its natural enemies while in- 
capable of flight. If never disturbed the young would not disclose 
this remarkable grebe-like adaptation to tide it over its nesting 
period. 
In an attempt to transport the adult birds alive across the 
Atlantic the problem was to find a suitable substitute for their 
natural diet for the long voyage home. 
The hoatzin is one of those sluggish creatures that are easy to 
approach but difficult to capture. The branches of the Pimpler 
Thorn will not bear a man’s weight, and furthermore they hang 
over muddy creeks, which renders the setting of nets or traps in 
these situations almost impossible. To help solve this problem I 
enlisted the aid of the locals, who are mostly the descendants of 
African slaves, half-castes and Indians. To be ready for any sud- 
den success, I purchased a number of packing cases from a local 
store and converted them into suitable travelling boxes for single 
hoatzins. The birds proved much more difficult to capture than I 
had anticipated, and to get them quickly I offered a high price. 
However, with the help of the Commissioner of Police, who was 
a great sportsman, some enthusiastic fellows were got together 
and they made an organized attack on the birds. I did not actually 
witness the performance, but was told that some men went along 
one side of the Pimpler Thorns in a boat while the rest proceeded 
on dry land on the other side of the line of bushes. Late one 
evening the gang arrived with five birds all covered with mud 
but uninjured. The captors were even more muddy than the 
caught, and one fellow had evidently done a lot of floundering 
about in the muddy creek to retrieve exhausted birds. 
I got to work immediately and cleaned them up and by next 
morning the birds looked a fine lot. Their striking upcurled crests, 
permanently raised, gave them a warrior-like air, but for the first 
few days they gave off a strong musky odor. This smell seems to 
