384 



OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



Parting my hammock net, I found my vision of jungle 

 growth had been prompted by a great bank of black cloud, 

 out of which the sun leaped at that instant and lighted up 

 the beautiful green and blue of savanna and river. Little 

 Green Herons^'* were fishing at the water's edge and a 

 Jacana"^ was leading her brood of three small chicks within 



,(*«^ 



/V^^^ 



Fig. i6o. Young Spue-winged Jacana. 



a few feet of my hammock, down to a causeway of trem- 

 bling lily pads. The youngsters were very tiny, clad in gray 

 with a large black mark on the nape. Even in comparison 

 with their mother their toes were of enormous length. 

 They kept at her very heels and when she stopped for a 

 moment crept beneath her wings. But at this concentration 

 of weight the water would begin to trickle over the rim of 

 the fragile pads and the mother would hurry on, flashing out 

 the yellow of her wings every few steps, perhaps as a signal 

 to her brood. 



