64 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
easy, loitering flight, and When on the wing does not 
appear to have an object in view, like the Hawk, 
but wanders and prowls about here and there, and 
when it spies another bird it flies after him to see 
if he has food in his eye. When one finds something 
to eat the others try to deprive him of it, pursuing 
him with great determination all over the place; if 
the foremost pursuer flags, a fresh bird takes its 
place, until the object of so much contention— 
perhaps after all only a bit of bone or skin—is 
dropped to the ground, to be instantly snatched up 
by some bird in the tail of the chase; and he in 
turn becomes the pursued of all the others. This 
continues until one grows tired and leaves off watch- 
ing them without seeing the result. They are 
loquacious and sociable, frequently congregating in 
loose companies of thirty or forty individuals, when 
they spend several hours every day in spirited 
exercises, soaring about like Martins, performing 
endless evolutions, and joining in aerial mock battles. 
When tired of these pastimes they all settle down 
again, to remain for an hour or so perched on the 
topmost boughs of trees or on other elevations ; 
and at intervals one bird utters a very long, leisurely 
chant, with a falling inflection, followed by a series 
of short notes, all the other birds joining in chorus 
and uttering short notes in time with those of their 
soloist or precentor. The nest is built on trees or 
rushes in swamps, or on the ground amongst grass 
and thistles. The eggs are three or four in number, 
nearly spherical, blotched with deep red on a white 
