THE START 33 



musical, bell-like note, long-drawn and of piercing sweet- 

 ness, which occurs at intervals in the song; at first I thought 

 this was the song, but when it was possible to approach the 

 singer I found that these far-sounding notes were scattered 

 through a continuous song of great melody. I never list- 

 ened to one that impressed me more. In different places 

 in Argentina I heard and saw the Argentine mocking-bird, 

 which is not very unlike our own, and is also a delightful and 

 remarkable singer. But I never heard the wonderful white- 

 banded mocking-bird, which is said by Hudson, who knew 

 well the birds of both South America and Europe, to be 

 the song-king of them all. 



Most of the birds I thus noticed while hurriedly pass- 

 ing through the country were, of course, the conspicuous 

 ones. The spurred lapwings, big, tame, boldly marked 

 plover, were everywhere; they were very noisy and active 

 and both inquisitive and daring, and they have a very 

 curious dance custom. No man need look for them. They 

 will look for him, and when they find him they will fairly 

 yell the discovery to the universe. In the marshes of the 

 lower Parana I saw flocks of scarlet-headed blackbirds on 

 the tops of the reeds; the females are as strikingly colored 

 as the males, and their jet-black bodies and brilliant red 

 heads make it impossible for them to escape observation 

 among their natural surroundings. On the plains to the 

 west I saw flocks of the beautiful rose-breasted starlings; 

 unlike the red-headed blackbirds, which seemed fairly to 

 court attention, these starlings sought to escape observa- 

 tion by crouching on the ground so that their red breasts 

 were hidden. There were yellow-shouldered blackbirds in 

 wet places, and cow-buntings abounded. 



