126 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



dwellers though they are, can walk, and pick up 

 fish, etc., where brought by the parents — which 

 do not swallow and vomit it, but carry it in the bill 

 — and in the case of the Guillemot, at any rate, go 

 down to the sea when half-fledged, their fledging 

 being uniform as in Gulls, though this premature 

 jump into existence results in the death of many. 



The young of that most curious bird the Cariama 

 (Cariama cristata) also seems to show a partially 

 degenerate type. It lies quietly in the nest, which 

 is built aloft, though the old birds spend most of 

 the time on the ground, but yet has patterned 

 down, dark brown with a cream streak down each 

 side of the back and cream spots upon the brown ; 

 and as such down is usually found in runners, it 

 presents to the eye a queer blend of the two types 

 of young ; but the young one I observed, bred at 

 the Zoo, left the nest long before it could possibly 

 fly, though perhaps this was premature. At any 

 rate it climbed back to it when a bough was placed 

 as a ladder, so the same thing may occur in nature, 

 the nest being in a tree ; it did not seek for food, 

 but waited till the old birds gave it, just as Moor- 

 hens and Coots do when they are very young ; and 

 they keep taking it from the parents at times even 

 when fledged, as this young Cariama did, and thus 

 show, on their part also, signs of pauper degeneracy. 



In fact, the feeble, whining squeak and imploring 

 attitudes of the young of the Rail tribe contrast 

 very unfavourably with the liveliness of their 

 frequent companions, the ducklings ; in the case 



