1833 ] A VIOLENT lIAIL-STOilM. 113 



80 does llie teru-tcro. While ridirij^- over the grassy plains, oiio 

 is coiistatitly pursued by these birds, whieh appear to hate uiaii- 

 kiiuJ, and 1 am sure deserve to be hated for liicir never- eeasiiig, 

 unvaried, harsh screams. 'J'o the sportsman they are most an- 

 noyin;^-, by telling every other bird and animal of his approacii : 

 to the traveller in the coutitry, they may possibly, as JNIoiinu 

 says, do good, by warning him (jf the mi(biight robber. J)uring 

 the breeding season, they attempt, like our peewits, by feigning 

 to be wounded, to draw away from their nests dogs and other 

 enemies. The eggs of this bird are esteemed a great delieacy. 



/Scplonhcr Wit It. — To the seventh j)osfa at the foot of the Sierra 

 Tnpalguen. The country was quite level, with a coarse herbage 

 and a soft pealy soil. The hovel was here remarkably neat, the 

 posts and rafters being made of about a dozen dry thistle- 

 stalks bound tog(!ther with thongs of hide; ; and by the support 

 of these Ionic-like columns, the roof and sides were thalcii(;d 

 with reeds. AVe were h(;re told a fact, which I would not hav(5 

 credited, if I had not had partly ocular proof of it; namely, 

 that, during the previous night, hail as large as small apples, 

 and extremely hard, had falh^n with such violence!, as to kill 

 tiie greater niunber of the wild animals. One of the men had 

 already found tliirte<'n deer (Cervus campestris) lying dead, and 

 I saw their //ri/t hides; another of the party, a few minutes 

 after my arrival, brought in seven more. Is'ow I well know, 

 that one man without dogs could hardly have killed seven deer 

 in a week. 'I'iie men believed they had seen about fiileen dead 

 ostriches (part of one of which we had for dinner) ; and they 

 said that several were rumiing about evidently blind in one eye. 

 Kundjcrs of smaller birds, as ducks, hawks, and })artri(lges, were 

 killed. I saw one of the latter with a black mark on its back, 

 as if it had been struck with a paving-stone. A fence of thistle- 

 stalks round the hovel was nearly broken down, and my in- 

 former, [)utling his head out to see what was the matter, received 

 a severe cut, and now wore a bandage;. 'J'he storm was said to 

 ]iave been of limited extent: we certainly saw from our last 

 liijilit's bivouac a dense cloud and li-'htniii'!: in this direction. It 

 is marvellous how such strong animals as deer could thus have 

 been killed ; but 1 have no doubt, from the evidence I have 

 given, that tli(; story is not in the least exaggerated. I am glad, 



