152 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



had scattered, a wait of ten minutes would restore perfect 

 confidence in the deceit. 



Much more interesting than any of these artificial meth- 

 ods was to learn the secrets of the jungle and find some out- 

 burst of blossoms or wholesale ripening of a treeful of fruit 

 or berries, or the maturing of a harvest of nuts on some for- 

 est giant. For these were magnets which drew creatures, of- 

 ten in hundreds, from miles in every direction. A blind built 

 in such a place was well worth occupancy for many hours. 

 Favorite roosting trees were another source of observation 

 and of netting the birds, which lost much of their fear of man 

 as twilight approached. Finally, and most delightful of all, 

 it was a joy to find an occupied nest, such as that of some 

 little jungle manakin, low down in an accessible spot. With 

 this as a localized lure, a magnet which for a time bound two 

 birds to a single spot in space, one merged oneself as much 

 as might be into the surroundings and keenly watched all 

 the matters of home life which were vouchsafed to the mere 

 outsider. 



Only when we encountered such singular creatures as 

 the hoatzins, which, to their peculiar physical and hereditary 

 interests add a static mode of life and habitat which is almost 

 vegetative, do we appreciate the difficulties of finding and 

 keeping under continual observation other more active or- 

 ganisms cursorial or volant. 



A colony of vampires had long been in possession of a 

 hollow under the roof of Kalacoon. We left them undis- 

 turbed for we desired to watch them and learn something of 

 their habits. Their wings swept our faces throughout the 

 night, but they never molested us even when we ceased to 

 keep the vampire lantern alight. We began our campaign 

 for securing young bats by the crude method of waiting with 

 a 22-calibre rifle for them to alight on a favorite spot on the 

 lofty rafters. This resulted in the indiscriminate killing of 

 several, but left us still in complete ignorance as to the young. 



