538 CLASS AVES. 



nature is so wild that the hunters cannot approach them but 

 by covering themselves with leaves, or gliding along behind 

 the bushes and reeds. It is during and after the rainy 

 season that they are chiefly to be seen in the lagoons and 

 marshes, and on the borders of stagnant waters. Their flight, 

 though by no means lofty, is rapid ; and on setting forth, 

 they utter a sharp cry, which may be heard at a great dis- 

 tance. According to the same observer, it would seem that 

 there is no foreign enemy against which the jacana exercises 

 its array. Their warlike disposition is evinced among them- 

 selves, and they dispute for food, space, and, above all, for the 

 possession of the females. 



The Kamichi (Palamedea), Horned Screamer, Lath, 

 is a large bird, hitherto seen only under the torrid zone of 

 the New Continent, and constitutes a very distinct and easily 

 to be recognized genus. The species, which is rare, inliabits 

 the inundated lands of South America. It does not enter the 

 great woods, perching only momentarily on dead branches. 

 It sends forth shrill and piercing cries, which may be heard 

 at a considerable distance, Avhence its English name. Bajon 

 tells us, that its aliment consists only in aquatic plants and 

 seeds, though others, before him, have averred that it also 

 fed on reptiles. It never attacks other birds, and the only 

 use it makes of its arms is, when the males dispute for the 

 possession of the females. Once paired, however, the two 

 sexes quit each other no more ; and when one dies, the other 

 soon pines away with grief. 



The screamers construct their nests in the form of an oven, 

 at the foot of a tree, according to Pison ; but Bajon tells us 

 that they make it in bushes, at some distance from the ground, 

 and often in reeds. The female, in general, lays but two eggs, 

 of the size of those of a goose, and there is but one brood, in 

 the month of January or February, except when the eggs are 

 destroyed by any accident, and then a second takes place in 



