OIL-BIRDS 
Large numbers of guacharos or oil-birds sleep throughout the tropical day 
in deep, rocky caverns. The indigestible seeds of the fruits eaten by these 
birds drop to the floor of their cavern home, and some of them sprout into 
shoots that are pale and colorless from lack of light. The thousands of 
somber-colored, sleeping birds and these pallid plants make the caverns 
seem like cities of the dead. 
At evening the birds awaken, clacking their beaks and croaking, and 
leave their caves to search the forest for food consisting of oily nuts, fruits 
and berries. Their legs and feet are comparatively weak, but their wings 
are large and strong, and they are good fliers. They are believed to fly on 
occasion as far as eighty miles for their food, but most often they remain 
within a restricted area. The oil-bird’s beak is strong and deeply notched; 
each of the large nostrils contains twelve stiff hairs. 
Guacharos are said to make a bowl-like nest of mud. Their eggs, 
two to four in number, are pure white and lustreless. The young contain a 
great proportion of fat, and while still in their nests are sought by the 
Indians, who catch them with the aid of torches and long poles. The enraged 
parents fly about the cave uttering deafening cries, but are unable to pro¬ 
tect their chicks. Fires are then lighted at the cavern’s mouth, and here 
the grease from thousands of young birds is melted down. The oil thus 
obtained is preserved in earthenware pots and used for lamps, for cooking 
and even as butter. The “butter” is said to be remarkably free from im¬ 
purities and not to grow rancid even in a year’s time. 
The young birds are also regarded as a table delicacy by the natives 
and many white men. Epicures dislike oil-birds because of an alleged 
“cockroachy” taste. 
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