A Jaguar-Hunt on the Taquary 93 



of the little parakeets near the house, they were gather- 

 ing materials for nest-building, they were just as noisy 

 as while flying. 



The water-birds were always a delight. We shot 

 merely the two or three specimens the naturalists needed 

 for the museum. I killed a wood-ibis on the wing with 

 the handy little Springfield, and then lost all the credit 

 I had thus gained by a series of inexcusable misses, at 

 long range, before I finally killed a jabiru. Kermit shot 

 a jabiru with the Liiger automatic. The great, splendid 

 birds, standing about as tall as a man, show fight when 

 wounded, and advance against their assailants, clattering 

 their formidable bills. One day we found the nest of a 

 jabiru in a mighty fig-tree, on the edge of a patch of 

 jungle. It was a big platform of sticks, placed on a 

 horizontal branch. There were four half-grown young 

 standing on it. We passed it in the morning, when both 

 parents were also perched alongside; the sky was then 

 overcast, and it was not possible to photograph it with 

 the small camera. In the early afternoon when we again 

 passed it the sun was out, and we tried to get photo- 

 graphs. Only one parent bird was present at this time. 

 It showed no fear. I noticed that, as it stood on a branch 

 near the nest, its bill was slightly open. It was very hot, 

 and I suppose it had opened its bill just as a hen opens 

 her bill in hot weather. As we rode away the old bird 

 and the four young birds were standing motionless, and 

 with gliding flight the other old bird was returning to 

 the nest. It is hard to give an adequate idea of the 

 wealth of bird life in these marshes. A naturalist could 

 with the utmost advantage spend six months on such a 



