I833-] SOUTH AMERICAN OSTRICH. 6$ 



ing birds which are common on the wild plains of Northern Patagonia ; 

 and first for the largest, or South American ostrich. The ordinary 

 habits of the ostrich are familiar to every one. They live on vegetable 

 matter, such as roots and grass ; but at Bahia Blanca I have repeatedly 

 seen three or four come down at low water to the extensive mud-banks 

 which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos say, of feeding on 

 small fish. Although the ostrich in its habits is so shy, wary, and 

 solitary, and although so fleet in its pace, it is caught without much 

 difficulty by the Indian or Gaucho armed with the bolas. When 

 several horsemen appear in a semicircle, it becomes confounded, and 

 does not know which way to escape. They generally prefer running 

 against the wind ; yet at the first start they expand their wings, and 

 like a vessel make all sail. On one fine hot day I saw several 

 ostriches enter a bed of tall rushes, where they squatted concealed, till 

 quite closely approached. It is not generally known that ostriches 

 readily take to the water. Mr. King informs me that at the Bay of San 

 Bias, and at Port Valdes in Patagonia, he saw these birds swimming 

 several times from island to island. They ran into the water both 

 when driven down to a point, and likewise of their own accord when 

 not frightened : the distance crossed was about two hundred yards. 

 When swimming, very little of their bodies appear above water ; their 

 necks are extended a little forward, and their progress is slow. On 

 two occasions I saw some ostriches swimming across the Santa Cruz 

 river, where its course was about four hundred yards wide, and the 

 stream rapid. Captain Sturt,* when descending the Murrumbidgee, in 

 Australia, saw two emus in the act of swimming. 



The inhabitants of the country readily distinguish, even at a distance, 

 the cock bird from the hen. The former is larger and darker-coloured.t 

 and has a bigger head. The ostrich, I believe the cock, emits a 

 singular, deep-toned, hissing note: when first I heard it, standing in the 

 midst of some sand-hillocks, I thought it was made by some wild 

 beast, for it is a sound that one cannot tell whence it comes, or from 

 how far distant. When we were at Bahia Blanca in the months of 

 September and October, the eggs, in extraordinary numbers, were 

 found all over the country. They lie either scattered and single, in 

 which case they are never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards 

 huachos ; or they are collected together into a shallow excavation, 

 which forms the nest. Out of the four nests which I saw, three con- 

 tained twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth twenty-seven. In one 

 day's hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were found ; forty-four of 

 these were in two nests, and the remaining twenty, scattered huachos. 

 The Gauchos unanimously affirm, and there is no reason to doubt 

 their statement, that the male bird alone hatches the eggs, and for 

 some time afterwards accompanies the young. The cock when on the 

 nest lies very close ; I have myself almost ridden over one. It is 

 asserted that at such times they are occasionally fierce, and even 



* Sturt's "Travels," vol. ii., p. 74. 



f A Gaucho assured me that he had once seen a snow-white or Albino 

 variety, and that it was a most beautiful bird. 



