ANIMAL MIGRATIONS 375 



that frequent the Upper Orinoco return in May ; 

 and their halting-place near San Carlos is not at 

 the mouth of the Casiquiari, but on islands a day's 

 journey below the village, so that they are at that 

 season less persecuted by the Indians. If they 

 went all the way down the Rio Negro in May, they 

 would reach the Amazon long before its beaches 

 began to be exposed ; but it has been ascertained 

 that they sojourn awhile on the Rio Branco, whose 

 beaches are earlier uncovered. Flocks of Wild 

 Ducks sometimes accompany the Ibises ; and it is 

 quite possible that some of the smaller aquatic and 

 riparial fowls make similar migrations. 



When the Ibises are roosting, a shot or two 

 from a gun is enough to make the whole caravan 

 take to tlight and remove to some distance ; but 

 the Indians of San Carlos know better than to 

 scare them away with firearms. They get into 

 their canoes a little after midnight, creep silently 

 up the river, and under cover of the night dis- 

 embark beneath the trees where the Ibises are 

 roosting. Then, when at break of day the birds 

 wake up and begin to stir and to be visible, the 

 Indians pick them off with poisoned darts from 

 their blowing-canes, in great numbers, before the 

 bulk of the flock takes alarm ; so that they mostly 

 return to the village with great piles of dead Ibises; 

 and although this lasts only three or four days, the 

 quantity killed is so great that, what with fresh 

 and what with barbecued game, everybody feasts 

 royally for a fortnight ; whereas throughout the 

 rest of the year the dearth of provisions exceeds 

 what I have experienced elsewhere in South 

 America. 



