ECOLOGY OF THE HOATZIN- — BEEBE. 531 



Penard (34), writing of the birds of Dutch Guiana, gives as the 

 local distribution of the hoatzin, "Wouden en terreinen waar Arum 

 arborescens groeit." This is certainly not true as regards British 

 Guiana. The great heart-shaped leaves of that Arum are seen along 

 the lower reaches of every coastal river, yet the hoatzins are confined 

 to three streams, two of which are little more than creeks, in the 

 extreme eastern portion of the colony. These are the Berbice, the 

 Canje, and the Abary Rivers. 



On the Abary one has to ascend about 20 miles from the coast 

 before hoatzins are seen, and from here on they are scattered at 

 irregular intervals for 8 or 10 miles, confined exclusively to the 

 fringe of bushes on the windward side of the creek. So when we read 

 that the hoatzin inhabits British Guiana, instead of thinking of it 

 as a bird of strong flight, which traverses savannas and forests, we 

 must realize that it is to be found in only the merest fraction of 

 the colony. 



Taking again the large area drained by the rivers just north of the 

 Orinoco delta, one finds hoatzins absent except on the Rio Guara- 

 piche, beginning 2 miles below the village of Caho Colorado. 



I append a list of the localities from which hoatzins have been 

 recorded. Their isolated character, while doubtless reflecting our 

 faulty and inadequate knowledge, hints also of the remarkably 

 sporadic occurrence of these birds: 



Colombia: Bogota, Sclater (40). 

 Ecuador : Rio Copataza, C. Buckley. 

 Peru : 



Cashiboya, Scl. & Sal. (42). 



Yquitos, Berlepsch (7). 

 Bolivia: Lower Beni River, Alleu (1). 

 Venezuela : 



Cano del Toro, Hornaday (23). 



Orinoco from the delta to Rio Meta, Cherrie (16). 



Aqua Salada, Cherrie (16). 



Angostura, Berlepsch (7). 



Caicara, Berlepsch and Hartert (9). 



Guarapiche River, Beebe (5). 



Rio Guanare, Bingham (10). 

 British Guiana : 



Estuary of Berbice, Brown (12). 



Berbice, Sclater (41), Quelch (38). 



Abary Creek, Quelch (37), Beebe (6). 

 Dutch Guiana : 



Maroni River, Perrin (35). 



Indefinite, Penard (34). 

 French Guiana: Approuague, Berlepsch (8). 

 Brazil : 



The hoatzin seems to be abundant locally " in the marshy regions which 

 border the Amazon and its tributaries." Goeldi (20). 



Para, Amazon, Rio Negro, Rio Solimoens, Astlett (2). 



