242 



GALLIFORMES 



CHAP. 



young. The syrinx has one pair of muscles inserted on the distal 

 end of the trachea. 



The Hoatzin or " Anna," which is about the size of a Pigeon, 

 ranges from Colombia to the Lower Amazons and Bolivia, where 

 it haunts the sides of lagoons, creeks, and rivers covered with a 



thick growth of low trees or 

 bushes, which project over the 

 stream or the mud left bare by 

 the tide. In these tangled soli- 

 tudes it skulks during the heat 

 of the day, while at other times it 

 may be observed squatting upon 

 the branches, mainly supported on 

 the patch of hardened skin already 

 mentioned. When disturbed 

 the bird flies off awkwardly for 

 some forty yards with a violent 

 flapping motion, or progresses 

 by leaps from bough to bough, 

 erecting its crest and expanding 

 its wings and tail. The note is 

 sharp and shrill, and has been 

 described as a hissing screech. 

 The food consists of leaves and 

 fruit of the prickly Drepano- 

 carpus lunulatus, of the Aroid 

 Montriehardia arborescens, of 

 Avicennia nitida, and of a species 

 of Psidium. The conspicuous 

 nest, placed on low trees or shrubs, 

 is a loose platform of spiny twigs 

 and sticks with a softer lining, 

 which contains from three to five yellowish-white eggs of a Kail-like 

 appearance, spotted with reddish-brown and lilac. The young, which 

 can see and run as soon as they are hatched, have a claw on both 

 index and pollex, by means of which they creep about the thickets 

 and hook themselves over the branches, assisted by the bill and 

 feet. They can also swim and dive. A strong musky odour is given 

 off by the adults, whence they are termed " Stinking Pheasants " 

 in Guiana. The male has been asserted to be polygamous. 



FIG. 49. Hoatzin. 

 Opisthocomus cristatus. 



