CHAPTER IV 



Great Bird Gatherings 



This chapter is nothing but a digression, suggested 

 by what goes before ; for the subject touched on in 

 the account of the wild geese on the East Coast is 

 one which stirs the naturalist and bird-lover deeply 

 — the delight of witnessing immense congregations 

 of birds, especially those of large size and noble ap- 

 pearance. The remembrance of such scenes is a joy 

 for ever, in many instances clouded by the thought 

 that the sight which it is a happiness to recall will 

 be witnessed no more. 



Some years ago the distinguished naturalist and 

 palaeontologist, Mr. Richard Lydekker, went out to 

 Buenos Ayres to look over and arrange the collection 

 of tertiary fossils in the famous La Plata Museum. 

 He had read my Naturalist in La Plata with indus- 

 trious zeal, quoting from it in rather a wholesale way 

 when compiling his Royal Natural History. He had 

 also read Darwin and other naturalists who have 

 described that same region, and had a hundred things 

 to look at besides the fossils. One thing he desired to 

 see was the crested screamer — that great spur-winged 

 loud-voiced bird which has puzzled zoologists to 



34 



