1T6 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IX BRITISH GUIANA 



But the victory was nioiiientarv. A frantic wave and 

 clutch at the cin})ty air, and it ])itched forward and hung 

 u])sidc down. Tliis time it was sus])en<led l)y the toe grip, 

 wliicli, useless upon level ground, was its strongest safeguard 

 among branches. It was almost impossible to pull a fledg- 

 linsf hoatzin from the branch when once its feet had obtained 

 a firm hold, Kach toe had to be uncmded in turn. The sec- 

 ond righting was a quicker matter, more skillfully achieved. 

 The chin hold was taken at once and the wing claws fol- 

 lowed. If a well-twigged branch were now placed within 

 reach, the bird easily retained its ui)right position and 

 climbed with facility, wing over wing. 



The illustrations from drawings, of the young hoatzins, 

 which for manv years have done duty in volume after vol- 



• • • 



ume of our ornithological literature, are almost without ex- 

 ception incorrect. To consider only one instance, the widely 

 copied drawing by Baldwin, which tirst appeared in the pub- 

 lications of the United States National iNIuseum, errs in 

 representing the young bird as gripping a twig in its man- 

 dibles. In all my ex])erience 1 have never observed this, al- 

 though the chin hold is the most common method of begin- 

 ning a climb. It is this habit, which, carelessly observed, led 

 to the mistaken idea that the bird actually grasped the twig 

 in its beak. In the same drawing the second hoatzin nest- 

 ling is shown as standing almost flat-toed on the upper sur- 

 face of a branch, a position which, as we know from its in- 

 ability to stand for a moment upon flat ground, is impossible. 

 In the water I found that the young hoatzin displayed 

 two very distinct methods of progression. If dropped into 

 a deep l)asin or tub, it always landed head flrst, even when it 

 had to turn partly over in mid-air to accomplish this. Al- 

 most at once it came to the sm-face, the head, neck and tail- 

 feathers projecting, and the back being flush with the sur- 

 face. It would start to swim immediately, easily but slowly. 

 It held its wings extended loosely on each side so that they 



