90 BAHIA BLANCA. [chap. v. 



running against the wind ; yet at the first start they expand 

 their wings, and like a vessel make all sail. On one fine hot 

 day I saw several ostriches enter a bed of tall rushes, where they 

 squatted concealed, till quite closely approached. It is not gene- 

 rally known that ostriches readily take to the water. Mr. King 

 informs me that at the Bay of San Bias, and at Port Valdes in 

 Patagonia, he saw these birds swimming several times from 

 island to island. They ran into the water both when driven 

 down to a point, and likewise of their own accord when not 

 frightened : the distance crossed was about two hundred yards. 

 When swimming, very little of their bodies appear above water ; 

 their necks are extended a little forward, and their progress is 

 slow. On two occasions I saw some ostriches swimming across 

 the Santa Cruz river, where its course was about four hundred 

 yards wide, and the stream rapid. Captain Sturt,* when de- 

 scending the Murrumbidgee, in Australia, saw two emus in the 

 act of swimming. 



The inhabitants of the country readily distinguish, even at a 

 distance, the cock bird from the hen. The former is larger and 

 darker-coloured, f and has a bigger head. The ostrich, I believe 

 the cock, emits a singular, deep-toned, hissing note : when first 

 I heard it, standing in the midst of some sand-hillocks, I thought 

 it was made by some wild beast, for it is a sound that one cannot 

 tell whence it comes, or from how far distant. When we were 

 at Bahia Blanca in the months of September and October, the 

 eggs, in extraordinary numbers, were found all over the country. 

 They lie either scattered and single, in which case they are 

 never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards huachos ; or they 

 are collected together into a shallow excavation, which forms the 

 nest. Out of the four nests which I saw, three contained twenty- 

 two eggs each, and the fourth twenty-seven. In one day's 

 hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were found ; forty-four of 

 these were in two nests, and the remaining twenty, scattered 

 huachos. The Gauchos unanimously affirm, and there is no 

 reason to doubt their statement, that the male bird alone hatches 

 the eggs, and for some time afterwards accompanies the young. 



* Sturt's Travels, vol. ii. p. 74. 



f A Gaucho assured me that he had once seen a snow-white or Albino 

 variety, and that it was a most beautiful bird. 



