192 To the River Plate and Back 



and villages, where the foreign influence is not strong, 

 it is almost universal, and a great deal of time is reported 

 to be wasted in mate-drinking, which goes on at all 

 hours. My friend J. B. Hatcher, who spent a number 

 of years in the geological exploration of Patagonia, was 

 accustomed to speak in terms of reprobation of the 

 habit of drinking mate, as he had observed it in the 

 course of his travels in the remoter districts. I have 

 tried the drink only on one or two occasions, but did 

 not find it seductive. The infusion is said to be rich 

 in theine, in fact much stronger than the tea of China 

 and Japan. It certainly tastes as if this were the case. 

 I enjoyed a good rest after having retired to my com- 

 partment, but awoke very early, and after dressing 

 went forward to the dining-car, where I obtained my 

 breakfast, and was soon joined by Dr. Roth. The 

 morning was beautifully clear. The train was passing 

 over the pampas. In many places there appeared small 

 ponds and lakelets. About these there were a great 

 many wild ducks of several species. Here and there 

 I caught sight of storks standing in the meadows. The 

 great maguari stork (Euxenura maguari) of South 

 America passes the winters in the tropics of Brazil 

 and then migrates southward into Argentina, just as 

 the stork of Europe spends its winters in the tropics 

 of Africa, and migrates northward across the Mediter- 

 ranean in the spring of the year. The South American 

 stork has not acquired the habit of building its nests 

 upon the roofs of houses, as has its cousin of the Old 

 World. It is a very stately bird, snow-white in color, 

 except for the wings and upper tail-coverts, which are 

 black, and the lores, the legs, and feet, which are red. 

 Their principal food is mice, toads, and snakes. Most 

 of those which I saw did not appear to pay any attention 



