1909] Beebe: Ecology of the Hoatzin. 61 



enough to get into a clear space and to photograph eleven on the 

 same plate; the confused mass near the center of the picture 

 containing four individuals. Fig. 12 shows the character of the 

 country where we found the Hoatzin on Abary Creek, with the 

 line of dense growth on one side, and the level savanna on the 

 other. 



A photographic study of an individual pair of birds is given 

 in Figures 15 to 19. The action of these two birds is so typical 

 of Hoatzins that an account of them will apply to the species in 

 general. I made these photographs from a boat, standing on the 

 thwarts, while Mrs. Beebe guided it through the brush. 



We flush the female from her nest, and she flies to a 

 branch some eight feet higher, the male then appearing from a 

 tree beyond. (Fig. 15.) We remain perfectly quiet, and the 

 next photograph shows the female Hoatzin, tail on, looking 

 about, while the male, who has flown nearer, is watching us 

 suspiciously. (Fig. 16.) 



Fig. 17 shows the male on another perch, still more alarmed, 

 and a moment later he thrashes his way out of sight. Mean- 

 while the female has rediscovered us and crouches down (Fig. 

 18), hoping to avoid observation, but as we push closer to the 

 nest, she rises on her perch, spreads wings and tail to the widest 

 (Fig. 19), her scarlet eyes flashing, and, uttering a last dis- 

 pairing hiss, launches out for a few yards. At this moment, as 

 may be seen in the same picture, a second pair of birds fly up 

 from a nest in the next clump of undergrowth, and raise their 

 discordant notes in protest at our intrusion. 



The assertion which I made last year that Hoatzins use 

 their primary feathers as fingers, in the same way that the 

 chicks and partly grown young use their wing claws, has been 

 received with some doubt, and I am glad to offer a photograph 

 (Fig. 19) as evidence. In the right wing of the Hoatzin, the 

 thumb feathers are plainly visible, with their edges fretted away, 

 while the first six primaries also show signs of severe wear, 

 such as would be expected from the rough usage to which they 

 are put. 



Attention is called to the apparent immobility of the crest, 

 which is as fully erect in the crouching Hoatzin (Fig. 18) as in 

 the same bird a minute or two later, alert and about to fly (Fig. 

 19). 



Thus it was that we made the first photographs ever taken 

 of these most interesting birds. 



