BIRDS. 481 



nished some notes on their habits, from which we make a few abstracts ; 

 but in such a way that no quotation marks can be used. Specimens were 

 captured by hand, all that was necessary being to stand perfectly still until 

 they came within reach, and the first one caught served as a lure for 

 others. They fought among themselves, using the bill, but not the spurs 

 upon the wings. During the night they clucked and pecked at the wood- 

 work, so that one would think that a flock of chickens were about. There 

 were different opinions as to their edibility. The German observers thought 

 them the best birds on the island ; the whalers said they would " do very 

 well when very short of fresh meat" ; while the American party did not 

 experiment on them at all, the flesh being very dark, and apparently very 

 tough. 



HOATZIN. 



The South American hoatzin, or, as it is often called, the cigana, or 

 gypsy, is a strange bird. It is dark brown, varied with reddish, and is 

 about the size of a pheasant ; indeed, until recently it was grouped with 

 those forms. But a study' of its anatomy reveals the fact that it is sui 

 generis. No other bird has such a skeleton, none such an arrangement of 

 muscles. Of its development nothing is known beyond the fact that the 

 young birds have a couple of claws upon the wings, but these are not of 

 such a character as to warrant the extravagant accounts which have been 

 given of them. They are scarcely more prominent than the spur of the 

 ja^ana, though they are placed on two two-jointed digits. They are said 

 to be used as aids in locomotion in clambering about in the trees, and are 

 lost in later life. 



It is a thoroughly arboreal species, living in small flocks of twenty or 

 thirty individuals in the alluvial regions of northern South America. It 

 never appears on the ground, and it is also said not to frequent high trees, 

 but rather the lower bushes. It is polygamous, as are our domestic fowl, 

 and its voice is a hard, grating hiss. It is nowhere domesticated ; indeed, it 

 would not be a desirable form ; for its food, chiefly the leaves of one of the 

 Arums, give the flesh a most disagreeable taste. Says Mr. Bates, " The 

 flesh has an unpleasant odor of musk combined with wet hides — a smell 

 called by the Brazilians catinga ; it is therefore uneatable." 



Scratching Birds. 



The common name, scratching birds, and its Latin equivalent, Rasores, 

 have been applied to the group which is typified by our common barnyard 

 fowl, the members of which obtain their food by scratching the earth. 



