142 Information respecting Botanical Travellers, 



house or stage ; where, if horses are wanted, they are supplied at 

 Is. per league and 6d. for a peon to take them back ; an open Pancho 

 also for a bed-room, and a hide for bed accommodation. This day 

 our journey was but about twenty leagues : we found no specimens 

 except a species of Hordeum of the marshes. 



15th. The morning was foggy : the peons did not get the horses 

 till near night. About ten we arrived at Arrog Commoron Chico ; 

 here I found a pretty kind of Triglochin nearly covered with sand 

 from the river. On the bank of this Arrog stood the principal Es- 

 tancea of Signor Angenina, considered the wealthiest landholder of 

 the Argentine republic. Our road continued for forty miles on his 

 land, passing amongst many herds of cattle, also by some of the most 

 beautiful lagunes to be seen, covered with a vast number of geese, 

 swans, two species of flamingo, and a great variety of ducks, one of 

 which is much larger than a well-grown hen, which it resembles 

 more than it does a duck. These are called Patto de las Serras, or 

 Mountain Duck : they congregate in very large flocks, and seem to 

 delight to feed on land rather than water. Land birds are also, after 

 passing to the south of the Rio Solado, more numerous, particularly 

 the partridge of the country, of which there are two species, a small 

 and a large. The former is by some called the pheasant. I believe 

 they both belong to the quail genus ; they have no tails. The smaller 

 species resembles in shape, size, and colour the Corn Crake of Scot- 

 land, and is caught in thousands by the herds on horseback. When 

 approached, they settle close to the ground ; the rider then goes three 

 or four times round, closing in nearer each time, and holding in his 

 hand a slender rod with a small lasso at the point, which he throws 

 over the bird's head and plucks it off. Thence he goes a little 

 further distant, where he meets another bird ; and in this manner 

 he will take hundreds in one day. The larger kind is caught by 

 running : they rise but twice, fly the first time from fifty to one hun- 

 dred yards : their next flight is shorter, and the rider galloping soon 

 overtakes them and fells them with sticks. The swans are usually 

 captured by five or six men on horseback, who go together into the 

 shallow lagunes at a spot where they see a considerable flock col- 

 lected. All birds of this country are so much accustomed to horses 

 and cattle, that they take no heed to them, and are in a manner 

 tamed : thus the riders are enabled to draw close to the swans, who 

 rise in a cloud ; when the men shout with all their might, make as 

 much noise as possible, which stupifies the birds, so that they drop 

 into the water, and are killed with sticks. 



In this day's long ride we picked up only two species, one Cleome 



