I08 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



hens, pigs, parrots, and doves, and also several species of birds found 

 in the area, namely, hummingbirds, robins, bandurria, zorzal, tordo, 

 diuca, pitiu, and the tregle. The children knew that the turkey hen 

 tells the little turkeys to hide in the bush or somewhere else when 

 she sees a hawk flying her way, and also that the turkey hen talks 

 when a dog comes around. "The tregle," said a little girl, "is a bird 

 that talks at night. If someone of a family comes home after dark, 

 the tregle announces his coming. Those that hear the tregle will say, 

 'He is coming home now.' The tregle does not stay where people are, 

 but some Mapuche make him stay in the garden to eat worms and 

 insects ; they cut off the tips of the feathers of one of his wings so 

 that he cannot fly away, but this is cruel." To which a little boy 

 added : "The tregle talks before one sees him. See there on the little 

 stones [on a river's edge] you can see his eggs. See how he walks 

 around in the water, and talks and talks and pretends he is looking for 

 fish — he does not want us to see his eggs ; we call him trequell." 



Quoting other children : "Parrots talk much but cannot be saying 

 anything important, for they are stealing the wheat that has just been 

 planted !" "The bandurria talks very loud while he is flying — you can 

 hear him best in the afternoon when he and his partners fly to the 

 lake to take a drink." "The zorzal digs in the earth for worms and 

 catches bugs from the air, and never says a word then ; but when he 

 gets into the strawberry patch, he talks and talks ; we call him wilki." 

 "The pitiu sits on fences and talks in a high pitch, and only once. He 

 usually calls his own name." 



The writer was taught by schoolchildren how to identify other 

 birds : The tordo (thrush) calls karew, an Araucanian word ; it is 

 black and has a long bill. A loica (robin) has a very red breast. The 

 picaflor (hummingbird) is a tiny bird with a long bill; it takes nectar 

 from flowers. The diuca has gray-blue feathers. The perdiz grande 

 (partridge) runs around in fields ; it has a very small tail. The choroy 

 (parrot), the one that infests wheat fields and gardens, is green. The 

 bandurria — the Chileans call it raki — has a metallic cry; its cry is 

 called traktrakiin. 



SWIMMING, HORSEBACK RIDING, SHOOTING 



Boys who live near lakes or deep rivers learn to swim in early 

 childhood. Swimming in the Pacific, in general, is forbidden by 

 parents because of the danger of drowning. Good swimmers, both 

 boys and men, pride themselves on their ability. Girls and women do 

 not swim. According to Cooper's sources the Araucanians were ex- 

 cellent swimmers and divers (1946, p. 729). 



