Marvels of the Universe 



177 



sun had been more powerful, or else had had 

 more effect owing to the finer, muddy nature of 

 this Gloucestershire beach. The resulting sun- 

 cracks are very broad and deep. Here, as in 

 a pre\-iou3 specimen, the slab of rock is a 

 " negative " or " cast" of the actual surface 

 affected bj' the sun, and hence the cracks 

 appear as ribs standing up from the surface. 

 This is the mud which co\-ered the original 

 cracked surface, forming a protecting blanket 

 upon it. 



[AR photographs illustrating this article 

 are b}" the ^\Titer, some from private speci- 

 mens and some, reproduced by permission, 

 from specimens in the Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology.] 



THE BIRD WITH HANDS 



BY W. P. PYCRAFT. F.Z.S. 



That strange native of British Guiana, the 

 Hoatzin, Governor Battenberg's Turkey, or 

 the Stinking Pheasant, as it is variously 

 called, is one of the most remarkable birds 

 living. Its whole life-history, from the cradle 

 to the grave, is remarkable. But we are 

 concerned here only with the earlier phases 

 of its growth. Hatched in a rough nest 

 of sticks placed on the bough of a tree 

 overhanging the water, the young Hoatzin 

 displays a singular activity from the moment 

 it breaks the walls of its shelly prison. 

 Normally this would mean an enormous 

 mortality, but there is nothing normal about 

 the Hoatzin, even in the nestling stage. Un- 

 like aU other nestlings, it is an expert climber, 

 using beak and wings and feet with amazing 

 dexterity in scrambling from branch to branch. 

 Many birds, like parrots, employ the beak 

 and feet when climbing ; but no other birds, 

 not even the Hoatzin when adult, can use the 

 wings for this purpose. But in the young 

 Hoatzin the thumb and first finger are armed 

 with long claws, and are very prehensile, 

 serving at this stage of growth as fingers. 

 More than this, the hand at this stage is ex- 

 ceedingly long, and to preserve the efficiency 

 of the claws till the flight feathers have 



P/loto hill 

 Here a 



IRtisselt F. GicinnfU. 



^OSSlL WIND, 

 n on-shore wind was sending the wavelets straight 



aUing 



parallel ripples. 



J'/iolij hu^ [Ufisscll /■'. UwinneU. 



■■A BROILING SUN." 



Wcry fierce must have been the heal which poured down 

 upon the shore and caused it to crack so deeply. Other deposits 

 of earth filled up these cracUs and bore the reverse impression 

 shown he re. 



12 



