400 Information respecting Zoological Travellers. 



have been seen to conceive it. I wished I had possessed the skill of 

 a Cruikshank, in order to sketch it when yet fresh in my memory. 



While they were in my possession I fed them on butcher's meat 

 and the offals of the kitchen. They sometimes got fish, but its high 

 price in Demerara did not permit me to feed them exclusively with 

 it, although they appeared to prefer it to any other food. When 

 the food was thrown in the air they caught it with great skill. 

 They were very voracious, and would frequently quarrel with each 

 other for a favourite piece. 



When irritated they clacked their beaks violently, and partly 

 spreading their wings, their appearance was certainly calculated to 

 cause some precaution. I have seen them strike with their beak to- 

 wards the face of those who irritated them ; and in one instance a 

 wound was inflicted, fortunately of no great moment. A dog stood 

 no chance, as the clattering noise and their appearance was quite 

 sufficient to frighten him away. In their wild state they are fierce ; 

 and I have seen them, although mortally wounded, defend them- 

 selves valiantly. 



The season was too far advanced to send the two young Jabirus 

 to Europe; and as I was on the eve of my departure to the interior, 

 I gave them away, and am not acquainted with their fate. 



All the pictures which I have seen of this bird are poor repre- 

 sentations of it. It appears to be scarce in European museums; and 

 the one which is preserved in the British Museum is not only in 

 itself a poor specimen, but is besides so injudiciously stuff^ed, that it 

 does not convey to the spectator any true resemblance of the bird in 

 its natural state. 



The representatives of the swine in South America are the banded 

 or collared, and the white-lipped Peccari ; but although their form of 

 body, the length of the snout and the shape of their legs are not mate- 

 rially different from the European swine, there are nevertheless dif- 

 ferences, even in the outer appearance, which become evident when 

 we come to examine them nearer. Their body is not so bulky, the 

 legs are shorter, in lieu of the tail there is merely a short protube- 

 rance ; but the greatest difference consists in a gland upon its back, 

 which although concealed, is easily perceptible from the turn of the 

 hair around it, and which gland secretes a liquor of a strong smell. 

 Both species appear to be common to Paraguay and Guiana. In the 

 latter province, where they have come under my notice, they are 

 seldom met with on the plains or savannahs, and frequent more the 

 thick forests and swamps. 



