248 



TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



Pllnii, I, 



FIG. 78. YOUNG TRUMPETERS FOUR DAYS OLD 



the tree-tops. There they would sit and cackle to one an- 

 other. If suddenly flushed and terrified they flew at once, 

 slanting slowly do^vnward as their power of flight weakened, 

 and then ran rapidly until a good distance away. If ap- 

 proached quietly they could he shot on their perches, and 

 one shot seldom alarmed the rest. 



Our Indian hunter, in four months' desultory shooting, 

 brought in twenty trumpeters from a comparatively restrict- 

 ed area. And yet at the end of our stay, there seemed no 

 diminution in the number of families or flocks which we ob- 

 served from day to day. 



The sexes of these trumpeters showed a preponderance 

 of females of about two to one. The food of these birds was 

 chiefly vegetable and exceedingly varied. For instance, the 

 crop of one bird contained a thorax of a large, green beetle. 



