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curious thing is that, notwithstanding the formidable weapons they 

 possess (each wing being armed with two large spurs), they are ex- 

 tremely pacific in temper. I have never been able to detect even the 

 slightest approach to a quarrel among them ; yet it is hard to believe 

 that they do not fight sometimes, since weapons of offence are usually 

 found correlated with the disposition to use them. Captive birds, how- 

 ever, can be made to fight ; and I have known Gauchos take them for 

 the pleasure of witnessing their battles. They are very easily tamed, 

 and in that state seem to show greater docility and intelligence than 

 any of our domestic birds ; and become so attached to their home that 

 it is quite safe to allow them to fly about at will. They associate, but 

 do not quarrel, with the poultry. They are quick to distinguish strangers 

 from the people of the house, showing considerable suspicion of them, 

 and sometimes raising a loud alarm at a stranger's approach. Towards 

 dogs and cats they are often unfriendly ; and when breeding it is dan- 

 gerous for a strange person to approach the nest, as they will sometimes 

 attack him with the greatest fury. 



The Screamer is a very heavy bird, and rises from the ground labori- 

 ously, the wings, as in the case of the Swan, making a loud noise. 

 Nevertheless, it loves soaring, and will rise in an immense spiral until it 

 wholly disappears from sight in the zenith, even in the brightest weather ; 

 and considering its great bulk arid dark colour, the height it ultimately 

 attains must be very great. On sunny windless days, especially in 

 winter and spring, they often spend hours at a time in these sublime 

 aerial exercises, slowly floating round and round in vast circles, and 

 singing at intervals. How so heavy and comparatively short-winged a 

 bird can sustain itself for such long periods in the thin upper air to 

 which it rises has not yet been explained. 



The voice is very powerful. When disturbed, or when the nest is 

 approached, both birds utter at intervals a loud alarm-cry, resembling 

 in sound the anger-cry of the Peacock, but twice as loud. At other 

 times its voice is exercised in a kind of singing performance, in which 

 male and female join, and which produces the effect of harmony. The 

 male begins, the female takes up her part, and then with marvellous 

 strength and spirit they pour forth a torrent of strangely-contrasted 

 sounds some bassoon-like in their depth and volume, some like drum- 

 beats, and others long, clear, and ringing. It is the loudest animal- 

 sound of the pampas, and its jubilant martial character strongly affects 

 the mind in that silent melancholy wilderness. 



The Screamers sing all the year round, at all hours, both on the 

 ground and when soaring ; when in pairs the two birds invariably sing 



