TO SOUTH AMERICA FOR BIRD STUDY 



273 



One day, on the trip up the river from 

 Corumba, members of our crew pointed ex- 

 citedly to something ahead of us in the 

 middle of the river. What was our aston- 

 ishment to find as we drew nearer, that 

 there were a couple of white-lipped pec- 

 caries swimming in midstream! They had 

 undoubtedly taken to the water voluntarily 

 in order to cross the river, which at that 

 point must be at least five hundred yards 

 wide. It was only a few moments before a 

 boat was manned and the peccaries over- 

 taken. That night we had roast pork for 

 supper. 



During my stay I was the guest of the 

 superintendent of the fasenda, and made 

 Descalvados (the headquarters of the 

 ranch) the base of my operations. From 

 that point I made excursions along both 

 sides of the Paraguay Eiver, and learned to 

 know what the Panateles really are, — vast 

 alluvial plains that during the rainy season 

 are entirely submerged, the water varying 

 in depth from a few inches to many feet. 

 During the dry season much of this vast 

 region is dry land, but everywhere so crossed 

 and intersected with irregular channels of 

 stagnant or sluggish water, that rarely can 

 one ride more than a few hundred yards in 

 a straight line without having to struggle 

 through the mud and water of the ponds or 

 streams. 



The Panateles are the homes of immense 

 flocks of many species of water birds — 

 ducks, herons, grebes, and rails. While the 

 greater part of the region is treeless, there 

 are, nevertheless, small islands densely for- 

 ested. These are rookeries for colonies of 



egrets or various species of ibis. I had the 

 pleasure of visiting a number of these col- 

 onies. The Indian guides that I had with 

 me in the Panateles proved to be remarkably 

 efficient. They were also relatively trust- 

 worthy zoological observers. From one of 

 them I learned first that some of the rook- 

 eries, which are occupied from the first of 

 August until the end of September by 

 colonies of egrets, are later occupied by 

 colonies of wood ibis, the latter not only 

 occupying the same region but also employ- 

 ing the same nests as the egrets, — without 

 even so much as a thorough housecleaning. 

 In one of these rookeries, where there was a 

 colony of wood ibis, I found a single jabiru 

 which had established himself in the center 

 of the colony, and built his nest on the ex- 

 treme top of one of the trees, from which 

 he not only overlooked the nests of the ibis, 

 but also had an unobstructed view of the 

 Panateles in all directions. 



There were deer in the open country, as 

 well as rheas, and storks — in fact, they were 

 sometimes abundant. In one day's ride 

 across the Panateles I counted forty bucks 

 of the black-tailed swamp deer and number- 

 less does. In addition to these, we saw a 

 few specimens of the beautiful white-tailed 

 deer, also puma, peccaries, and two spe- 

 cies of anteater, besides countless numbers 

 of birds of many varieties. Three months' 

 work in this region of marshes and open 

 plains — the last collecting point — supplied 

 the expedition with collections which will 

 prove of great interest to the public, as well 

 as to the scientific work of the American 

 Museum. 



