THE BARKING BIRD. 1 39 



were in every particular very similar to those of some of the smaller vari- 

 eties of the domestic dog, and for an instant I thought I was in a fair 

 way of securing a specimen of Cams viagellanicus, the large reddish tim- 

 ber dog of this region, examples of which we had not as yet seen. As I 

 stood for a moment carefully scanning the openings between the trees, 

 hoping to catch a glimpse of the object from which the sounds came, I 

 noticed that with each successive note it drew nearer, and presently I saw 

 emerging from a dense growth of underbrush at a little distance in front 

 of me a beautiful example of Hylactes taruii, the barking bird of these 

 Andean forests. The little creature came hopping along the ground 

 directly toward me. The beautiful, plump breast, covered with delicately 

 mottled chestnut brown feathers, rose and fell successively, and at each 

 stage of his advance he gave forth a note singularly like that of a small 

 dog. I retreated before the advancing bird to a distance sufficiently 

 remote to insure it from being blown to atoms and reluctantly despatched 

 it with a charge of the finest shot with which at that moment I happened 

 to be provided. Although this bird is said to be fairly common in the 

 forests to the north, it proved to be the only example we met with 

 throughout our travels in Patagonia. 



After a few days passed in this camp, we moved on down the stream 

 for a distance of ten or fifteen miles, encamping a short distance above a 

 considerable cataract, where the nature of the country was such as would 

 have rendered our further descent with the cart quite difficult, if not im- 

 possible. A few miles below our last camp the stream received from the 

 south a tributary about equalling it in size. Immediately below this the 

 valley became narrow and the water flowed along over a bed of shingle, 

 or between huge bowlders in an extremely tortuous course. This com- 

 pelled us to cross and recross the channel at various intervals during our 

 descent, as it swung back and forth from one side to another of the 

 enclosing bluffs. Travel, therefore, became somewhat difficult for several 

 miles before we decided on camping above the waterfall just mentioned. 



In this camp we remained until the first of March, giving our time 

 almost exclusively to the collecting of the skins and skeletons of recent 

 birds and mammals and in making additions to our botanical collections. 

 We were now in about the center of Mayer Basin. On our north there 

 rose a considerable elevation which we had christened Bald Mountain 

 from the nature of its summit, which though above timber line, was not 



