166 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



intent a boxer or wrestler flexes his muscles and bends his 

 body. One or two uncertain, forward steps brought the bird 

 to the edge of the nest and at the base of a small branch. 

 There he stood and raising one wing leaned heavily against 

 the stem, bracing himself. My man climbed higher and 

 the nest swayed violently. Now the brave little hoatzin 

 reached up to some tiny side twigs and aided by the proj ect- 

 ing ends of dead sticks from the nest, he climbed with facility, 

 his thumbs and fore fingers apparently being of more aid 

 than his feet. It was fascinating to see him ascend, stopping 

 now and then to crane his head and neck far out, turtle-wise. 

 He met every difficulty with some new contortion of body 

 or limbs, often with so quick or so subtle a shifting as to 

 escape my scrutiny. Once he even chinned himself. The 

 branch ended in a tiny crotch and here perforce, ended his 

 attempt at escape by climbing. He stood on the swaying 

 twig, one wing clutched tight and braced with both feet. 

 Nearer and nearer crept Sam. Not a quiver on the part of 

 the little hoatzin. We did not know it, but inside that ridi- 

 culous head there was definite decision as to a deadline. He 

 watched the approach of this great strange creature, this dan- 

 ger, this thing so wholly new and foreign to his experience 

 and doubtless to all the generations of his forebears. A black 

 hand grasped the thorny branch six feet from his perch, and 

 like a flash he played his next trick the only remaining one 

 he knew one that set him as apart from all modern land 

 birds as is the frog from the swallow. 



The young hoatzin stood erect for an instant, and then 

 both wings of the little bird were stretched straight back, not 

 folded, bird-wise, but dangling loosely and reaching well 

 beyond the body. For a considerable fraction of time he 

 leaned forward. Then without effort, without apparent leap 

 or jump he dived straight downward, as beautifully as a seal, 

 direct as a plummet and very swiftly. There was a scarcely 

 noticeable splash and as I gazed with real awe, I watched 



