EUXENURA MAGUART. 107 



p. 399 (Centr. Patagonia); Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 153 (Buenos Ayres) ; Bar- 

 roics, Auk, 1884, p. 271 (Entrerios). Euxenura maguari, Baird, Brew., 

 et Uidgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 77. 



Description. Plumage white; wings and upper tail-coverts black; naked 

 lores and feet red ; bill horn-colour, yellowish at the base : whole length 40-0 

 inches, wing 2OO, tail 8*0. Female similar. 



Hab. South America. 



The Maguari Stork is a well-known bird on the pampas, breeding in 

 the marshes, and also wading for its food in the shallow water ; but it 

 is not nearly so aquatic in its habits as the Jabiru, and after the breeding- 

 season is over it is seen everywhere on the dry plains. Here these birds 

 prey on mice, snakes, and toads, but also frequently visit the cultivated 

 fields in quest of food. When mice or frogs are exceptionally abundant 

 on the pampas, the Storks often appear in large numbers, and at such 

 times I have seen them congregating by hundreds in the evening beside 

 the water; but in the daytime they scatter over the feeding-ground, where 

 they are seen stalking along, intent on their prey, with majestic Crane- 

 like strides. To rise they give three long jumps before committing 

 themselves to the air, and like all heavy fliers make a loud noise with 

 their wings. They are never seen to alight on trees, like the Jabiru, 

 and are absolutely dumb, unless the clattering they make with the bill 

 when angry can be called a language. 



The lay ing- time is about the middle of August, and the nest is built up 

 amongst the rushes, rising about two feet above the surface of the water. 

 The eggs are rather long, three or four in number, and of a chalky white. 



Mr. Gibson, of Buenos Ayres, furnishes the following lively account 

 of a young Maguari : (< One, which I took on October 5, was about the 

 size of a domestic fowl, in down, and, with the exception of the white 

 tail, entirely black. It soon became very tame, and used to wander all 

 over the premises, looking for food, or watching any work that was going 

 on. Rats were swallowed whole ; and the way it would gulp down a 

 pound or two of raw meat would have horrified an English housekeeper. 

 Snakes it seized by the nape of the neck, and passed them transversely 

 through its bill by a succession of rapid and powerful nips, repeating 

 the operation two or three times before being satisfied that life was 

 totally extinct. It used often to do the same thing with dry sticks (in 

 order not to forget the way, I suppose) ; while on one occasion it swal- 

 lowed a piece of hard cowhide, a foot long, and consequently could not 

 bend its neck for twenty-four hours after till the hide softened, in fact. 

 The story also went that ' Byles, the lawyer' (as he was called), mistook 

 the tail of one of the pet lambs for a snake, and actually had it down his 

 throat, but was ( brought up > by the body of the lamb ! Byles inspired a 



