. Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana . ently ran to the hens and walkedabout them, while the captive bird which I observed paid noattention to the hens, but showed off to human visitors anddevoted himself to attacks upon their footwear. No part of the performance was ever omitted. Invariablyhe turned his back on his rival or observer, invariably hefirst walked and snorted, then champed and clapped his Third Phase of Curassow Strutting. Fig. 138. Back turned, Wings lowered, Air-sacs inflated, utteringthe penetrating Chall
. Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana . ently ran to the hens and walkedabout them, while the captive bird which I observed paid noattention to the hens, but showed off to human visitors anddevoted himself to attacks upon their footwear. No part of the performance was ever omitted. Invariablyhe turned his back on his rival or observer, invariably hefirst walked and snorted, then champed and clapped his Third Phase of Curassow Strutting. Fig. 138. Back turned, Wings lowered, Air-sacs inflated, utteringthe penetrating Challenge Call. wings, and finally sent out his challenge. As I have said, onemay closely imitate this call, and the birds, as I learned onanother occasion, will respond to repeated calls and comewithin shooting distance. Taken altogether, the performance was a most delightfulinsight into the lives of these little known birds, and thecomplexity and intricate succession of the various maneuvreswas remarkable. As I have said, a1 one of the pebble champ-ing periods I become so interested that I made a noise and the. 338 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. three birds rose at once and whirred away, while I retracedmy steps. I returned as carefully as possible and encountereda troup of small monkeys which passed close overhead,sending down a rain of dead twigs. They apparently havethe habit of breaking off twigs when they are progressingleisurely, as I observed this same unnecessary amount offalling twigs and branches on several other occasions. Whenthus engaged they make a great racket, uttering now andthen plaintive, inarticulate sounds. When once they spyyou beneath them a sudden chorus arises like the greatlyexaggerated swearing of a red squirrel, and off they gorapidly, silently, with not a sound of breaking branches. Finding a good point of vantage not far from my gun andbag, I waited for Francis, squatting—coolie fashion—outof respect to the bete rouge which were numerous and en-thus
Size: 1756px × 1423px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
