YANELLUS CAYENNENSIS. 



169 



made by the bird on the level plain, and lined with broken grass-stems 

 and small fragments of thistle-stalks ; the eggs are four, rather sharply 

 pointed at one end, and have an olive-green ground-colour spotted with 

 black. The eggs in different nests vary greatly in size, ground-colour, 

 and in the amount of black they are marked with, no two birds laying 

 eggs exactly alike. 



While the female is on the nest the male keeps watch at a distance 

 of twenty or thirty yards, and utters a low warning cry in case of 

 danger. The female leaves the nest sometimes by running, but often er 

 flies from it, and by marking the spot she rises from, it is easy to find 

 the nest on the open level pampas. In the course of a morning's ride 

 I have picked up as many as sixty-four eggs. During incubation the 

 birds are excessively watchful and jealous, their irritability increasing 

 with the growth of the chick in the shell ; and at that time they will 

 attack any bird of prey approaching the nest with amazing virulence. 

 When approached by a human being they fly to meet him when he is 

 still far from them, and hovering, with loud screams, over him, dash 

 down at intervals, threatening to strike with their wing-spurs, coming 

 very close to his head. Unable to intimidate the enemy with this show 

 of violence, the bird changes its tactics, and, alighting at some distance, 

 counterfeits the action of a bird seeking its nest. With well-acted 

 caution and secrecy in its manner, it runs silently along, stooping low, 

 and having found a slight nest-like depression on the surface, sits on 

 it, half opens its wings, and begins gathering all the small sticks or 

 straws within its reach and carefully arranges them about it, as most 

 ground-breeding birds do when incubating. Sometimes also, like many 

 other species, it tries to lead one away from the nest by feigning lameness ; 

 but the former instinct of seeking and sitting on an imaginary nest, 

 which I have not observed in any other bird, seems far more complex 

 and admirable. 



When sheep in a flock pass over the nest, the bird stands on it to 

 defend its eggs; and then its loud cries and outspread wings often 

 serve to bring the sheep, from motives of curiosity, about it. Even 

 with a dozen sheep clustered round it the bird stands undaunted, 

 beating their faces with its wings ; but, unhappily for it, if the shepherd 

 is following, the loud cries of the bird bring him to the spot, and the 

 eggs so bravely defended are taken. 



