194 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
the surface ; the eggs arggfour in number, pyriform, 
dark olive colour spotted with brownish black, the 
spots being very thickly crowded at the large end. 
During incubation the male keeps guard and utters 
a warning note on the appearance of an enemy, 
whereupon the female quits the nest. They also 
counterfeit lameness to draw a person from the 
neighbourhood of the eggs or young, but in a manner 
peculiar to this species; for owing to the great 
length of their legs they cannot drag themselves 
along the ground, as Ducks, Plover, Partridges, and 
other birds do. Placing themselves at a distance of 
forty or fifty yards from the intruder, but with breast 
towards him, they flutter about a foot above the 
ground, their long legs dangling under them, and 
appear as if struggling to rise and repeatedly falling 
back. If approached they slowly retire, still fluttering 
just above the grass and without making any sound. 
After the young birds are able to fly they remain 
with the parents until the following spring; and 
sometimes two or three families associate together, 
raising the number of the flock to fifteen or twenty 
birds. The young have a sharp, querulous cry of 
two notes; the plumage is brown and pale grey; 
the eyes black. After nine or ten months the adult 
plumage is acquired, not by moulting, but by a 
gradual change in the colours of the feathers. By 
the same gradual process the eye changes from black 
to crimson, the outer edge of the iris first assuming 
a dull reddish colour, which brightens and widens 
until the whole iris becomes of a vivid red. 
