20 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



till he had gone to the very top of the tree, as if 

 to get as far from the tempting cage as he could ! 



It was a great disappointment, and I now deter- 

 mined to hunt him down ; for it was late in the day, 

 and he was not a cunning wild bird to save himself 

 from rats and owls and black and yellow opossums and 

 other subtle enemies who would come presently on 

 the scene. I hunted him from the first tree on to 

 the next, then to another, until I had driven him 

 out of the plantation to an open place, where he 

 fluttered over the surface until he came to the bank 

 of the huge ditch or foss, about twelve feet deep and 

 half as wide as the Regent's Park canal. He would 

 drop into it, I thought, and I would then be able to 

 capture him ; but after a moment's rest on the b^nk 

 he rose and succeeded in flying across, pitching on 

 the other side. " Now I have him ! " I exclaimed, 

 and, getting over the foss, I was quickly in hot pursuit 

 after him ; for outside the foss the earth spread out 

 level and treeless, with nothing but grass and giant 

 thistles growing on it. But his wings were now 

 getting stronger with exercise, and he led me on 

 and on for about a mile, then disappeared in a clump 

 of giant thistles, growing on a warren or village of 

 the vizcachas — the vizcacha being a big rodent that 

 lives in communities in a dozen or twenty huge bur- 

 rows, their mouths placed close together. He had 

 escaped down one of these holes, and I waited in vain 

 for him to come out, and in the end was compelled to 

 go home without him. 



