IN THE DESERT 



the Brazilians call Coroa de frade, "monk's cap," because the flame- 

 red flower which crowns them is like the red skull-cap on the head 

 of a priest. 



If I stood quite motionless before such a heap of stones many 

 other creatures appeared ; above all, there were lizards of all kinds, 

 which disappeared into the chinks at my slightest movement ; only 

 if I stepped back did they reappear, repeatedly nodding their heads 

 and gazing after me with their shrewd little eyes. And the delight- 

 ful brown Cavies or Preyas showed their pretty little heads and 

 clambered over the rocks, like the rock-rabbits of Africa. 



When we drove through the bush in the car we saw larger creatures 

 too ; many birds of prey, some of them magnificent ; in particular 

 we often saw a kind of vulture, the Caracara, a bird as big as a fat 

 turkey, with variegated markings, a red and white face, and brown 

 hood. It allows the observer to come quite close to it. A bird charac- 

 teristic of the Sertao is the Seriema, a large, long-legged, bustard-like 

 bird, at the root of whose beak a few bristling feathers stand erect. 

 A pair of these birds ran across in front of our car, and then stood 

 still in the bush, close beside the track ; whereupon our driver stood 

 up in the car, and before I could stop him shot first one and then 

 the other, which was quietly looking on. I must confess that when 

 roasted they were good eating ; they tasted like turkey. Later I saw 

 another fly up in front of the car, when I was impressed by the 

 handsome outspread tail, barred like that of a sparrow-hawk. The 

 Seriema is distinguished by its shrieking cry; it lives on insects, 

 lizards and snakes, and is often kept in poultry-runs. 



The South American Ostrich is found in the interior of Brazil : 

 the Ema, Nandhu or Rhea (Fig. 8). It may be killed only by the 

 owner of the land on which it is found ; otherwise there are no 

 restrictions as to shooting game. On the pampas of Argentina I 

 often saw Rheas. They live in a half- wild state, as do the pheasants 

 in Europe. From time to time they are driven into a corral, where 

 they are deprived of their long feathers, which are used for trimming 

 hats and making feather fans. They are then released. 



One night, as we were driving through the Sertao in the bright 

 moonshine, foxes repeatedly ran across the track. A fox once entered 

 the monastery garden at Olinda, and was killed there. But larger 

 carnivora are not rare in the Sertao; above all, the "Silver Lion" 

 or Puma, the Brazilian On^a or Ounce. While I was in Caruaru 

 a pair of these fine animals was trapped. They sat snarling in their 

 narrow trap-cage, and leapt against the wooden bars, spitting and 



127 



