tyc Ostriches 3i)d 



HUNTING upon the plains of South America is the most 

 exciting sport. But it requires fine horsemanship and sure 

 skill in the lasso, or noose, which is thrown over the head of 

 the game. Robertson, an English traveller, gives the fol- 

 lowing account of his hunting adventures upon the plains of 

 Paraguay. 



We had taken three braces of birds, when, an ostrich start- 

 ing before us, Candioti, jun., gave the war-whoop, of pursuit 

 to his Gaucho followers, and to me the well-known intimation 

 of " Vamos, Senor Don Juan." Off went, or rather flew, the 

 Gauchos ; my steed bounded away in their company, and we 

 were now, instead of tracking an invisible bird through tufted 

 grass, in full cry after the nimble, conspicuous, and athletic 

 ostrich. With his erect and angry eye, towering above all 

 (492) 



