XXIII 
ANIMAL MIGRATIONS 
375 
that frequent the Upper Orinoco return in May ; 
and their halting-place near San Carlos is not at 
the mouth of the Casiquiari, but on islands a day's 
journey below the village, so that they are at that 
season less persecuted by the Indians. If they 
went all the way down the Rio Negro in May, they 
would reach the Amazon long before its beaches 
began to be exposed ; but it has been ascertained 
that they sojourn awhile on the Rio Branco, whose 
beaches are earlier uncovered. Flocks of Wild 
Ducks sometimes accompany the Ibises ; and it is 
quite possible that some of the smaller aquatic and 
riparial fowls make similar migrations. 
When the Ibises are roosting, a shot or two 
from a gun is enough to make the whole caravan 
take to flight and remove to some distance ; but 
the Indians of San Carlos know better than to 
scare them away with firearms. They get into 
their canoes a little after midnight, creep silently 
up the river, and under cover of the night dis- 
embark beneath the trees where the Ibises are 
roosting. Then, when at break of day the birds 
wake up and begin to stir and to be visible, the 
Indians pick them off with poisoned darts from 
their blowing-canes, in great numbers, before the 
bulk of the flock takes alarm ; so that they mostly 
return to the village with great piles of dead Ibises; 
and although this lasts only three or four days, the 
quantity killed is so great that, what with fresh 
and what with barbecued game, everybody feasts 
royally for a fortnight ; whereas throughout the 
rest of the year the dearth of provisions exceeds 
what I have experienced elsewhere in South 
America. 
