78 FALCONJD^:. 



lamb-killing birds of this species. They prowl about the flock, and watch 

 till a small lamb is found sleeping at some distance from its dam, rush 

 upon it, and, clinging to its head, eat away its nose and tongue. The 

 shepherd is then obliged to kill the lamb : but I have seen many lambs 

 that have been permitted to survive the mutilation, and which have 

 grown to strong, healthy sheep, though with greatly disfigured faces. 

 One more instance I will give of the boldness of a bird of which Azara, 

 greatly mistaken, says that it might possibly have courage enough to 

 attack a mouse, though he doubts it. Close to my house, when I was 

 a boy, a pair of these birds had their nest near a narrow path leading 

 through a thicket of giant thistles, and every time I traversed this path 

 the male bird, which, contrary to the rule with birds of prey, is larger 

 and bolder than the female, would rise high above me, then dashing 

 down, strike my horse a violent blow on the forehead with its wings. 

 This action it would repeat till I was out of the path. I thought it 

 very strange the bird never struck my head ; but I presently discovered 

 that it had an excellent reason for what it did. The gauchos ride by 

 preference on horses never properly tamed, and one neighbour informed 

 me that he was obliged every day to make a circuit of half a mile round 

 the thistles, as the horses he rode became quite unmanageable in the 

 path, they had been so terrified with the attacks of this Chimango. 



Where the intelligence of the bird appears to be really at fault is in 

 its habit of attacking a sore-backed horse, tempted thereto by the sight 

 of a raw spot, and apparently not understanding that the flesh it wishes 

 to devour is an inseparable part of the whole animal. Darwin has 

 noticed this curious blunder of the bird ; and I have often seen a chafed 

 saddle-horse wildly scouring the plain closely pursued by a hungry 

 Chimango determined to dine on a portion of him. 



In the hot season, when marshes and lagoons are drying up, the 

 Chimango is seen associating with Ibises and other waders, standing 

 knee-deep in the water and watching for tadpoles, frogs, and other 

 aquatic prey. He also wades after a very different kind of food. At 

 the bottom of pools, collected on clayey soil after a summer shower, an 

 edible fungus grows of a dull greenish colour and resembling gelatine. 

 He has found out that this fungus is good for food, though I never 

 saw any other creature eating it. In cultivated districts he follows the 

 plough in company with the black-headed gulls, Molothri, Guira 

 cuckoos, and tyrant-birds, and clumsily gleans amongst the fresh- 

 turned mould for worms and larvaB. He also attends the pigs when 

 they are rooting on the plain to share any succulent treasure- 

 trove turned up by their snouts ; for he is not a bird that allows dignity 

 to stand between him and his dinner. In the autumn, on damp, sultry 



