2o8 SYNDACTYLY. 



of the upper mandible. The mandibles are denticulated within the margins, 

 and the head is furnished with a large erectile crest. In these and some other 

 particulars the hoaitzin would seem to approach the Musophagida;, with which 

 Mr. G. R. Gray has placed it. 



Whatever may be its due systematic position, the hoaitzin is a verj' remark- 

 able bird. It is nearly as large as a peacock, which it resembles in many of 

 Its movements. Its plumage is tawny brown, with numerous white spots and 

 streaks upon the wings and tail. The naked skin about its face and throat 

 is bluish, and the elongated slender feathers which form its crest are white 

 upon one side and black on the other. These birds exhibit little fear of man, 

 and as their flesh possesses such a disagreeable odour^compounded of musk 

 and castoreum — as to be quite useless for food, they are probably seldom 

 disturbed. 



"The hoaitzin," says D'Orbigny, "is only met with in the vicinity of water, 

 or in places subject to inundations, a preference which seems to be dictated 

 by the nature of its food. It lives principally upon the fruits and leaves of. a 

 very large species of arum, called in its native country ''moucoit' {Arum 

 arboresccns), a plant which covers large areas of the submerged savannahs. 

 Wherever these plants are met with in any abundance, the hoaitzins are pretty- 

 sure to be seen, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in little flocks of seven or eight 

 together. They frequently all perch upon the same branch side by side, closely 

 crowded together, arc not at all shy, and allow themselves to be closely ap- 

 proached without showing any symptoms of alarm. The female lays from 

 four to six eggs. 



Tribe V. 



SVNDACTYL.-E. 



The Fifth Tribe of Passerine birds comprehends several familes, 

 recognizable by the peculiar conformation of their feet.* Their 

 external toe is almost as long as the middle toe, to which it is 

 joined by a membrane that reaches as far as the last joint but 

 one, a structure obviously intended to give great firmness to the 

 grasp while in the act of perching. In this division Cuvier included 

 the Bee-eaters, the Todies, the Motmots, the Kingfishers, and the 

 Hornbills, with which various other birds have been associated 

 by subsequent writers.! 



* See "Animal Creation," page 330. 

 + liy many ornithologists these birds are arranged with the Fissirostres. 



