THE LIFE OF THE ABARY SAVANNAS. 



367 



reaches of the river. In general, their habits did not differ 

 from those of the birds which we observed in Venezuela. 

 Throughout the heat of midday no sight or sound revealed 

 the presence of the birds, but as the afternoon wore on a 

 single raucous squawk would be heard in the distance, and 

 we knew the Hoatzins were astir. 



FIG. 151. THE AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPHING HOATZINS. 



Directly in front, between the bungalow and the river, as 

 may be seen from my diagram (Fig. 147), the brush had been 

 cut away on either hand for a distance of about sixty yards. 

 Kvery evening from 4.30 to 5.30?^., the Hoatzins gathered 

 on the extreme northern end of this wide break in their line 

 of thickets, until sometimes twenty-five or thirty birds were 

 in sight at once. Some would fly down to the low branches 



