138 JUNGLE PEACE 



and a skinny, crooked, two-fingered mitten of 

 an arm reared upward out of the muddy flood 

 and the nestling, black and glistening, hauled 

 itself out of water. 



Thus must the first amphibian have climbed 

 into the thin air. But the young hoatzin neither 

 gasped nor shivered, and seemed as self-pos- 

 sessed as if this was a common occurrence in 

 its life. There was not the slightest doubt how- 

 ever, that this was its first introduction to water. 

 Yet it had dived from a height of fifteen feet, 

 about fifty times its own length, as cleanly as 

 a seal leaps from a berg. It was as if a human 

 child should dive two hundred feet! 



In fifteen minutes more it had climbed high 

 above the water, and with unerring accuracy 

 directly toward its natal bundle of sticks over- 

 head. The mother now came close, and with 

 hoarse rasping notes and frantic heaves of tail 

 and wings lent encouragement. Just before we 

 paddled from sight, when the little fellow had 

 reached his last rung, he partly opened his beak 

 and gave a little falsetto cry, a clear, high 

 tone, tailing off into a guttural rasp. His splen- 

 did courage had broken at last; he had nearly 

 reached the nest and he was aching to put aside 



