INTRODUCTION vii 



ever-increasing number of readers to all those, in 

 fact, who love a bird, that is to say, the living bird, 

 not the dead stuffed specimen in a cabinet* It was 

 well and wisely said by Professor Mivart in his great 

 anatomical work that " there is no such thing as a 

 dead bird/' For the body is but the case, the habit, 

 and when the life and soul have gone out of it, what 

 is left is nothing but dust* 



To return for a few moments to the writer on 

 birds who came so long before me* Don Felix de 

 Azara, a Spanish gentleman, a person of importance 

 in his time, a traveller and author of several works, 

 was yet able to find his chief pleasure in "con- 

 versing with wild animals in desert places in a 

 remote land/' 



The bird life of those then little-known countries 

 had a special attraction for him, and he was a most 

 excellent observer and described them carefully* His 

 brief notes on their habits are all the better to read 

 on account of his simple natural diction, so rare to 

 find in the Spanish language, the beauty and sonority 

 of which perpetually tempts the writer to prolixity 

 and a florid style, 



Azara had one great advantage over me. He had 

 his friend Noseda, a village priest in Paraguay, who 

 shared his interest in the bird life of the district, 

 and made copious notes of his observations, and 

 these Azara could draw upon, Noseda was, indeed, 

 a sort of Gilbert White (his contemporary), and had 

 his " parish of Selborne " in a barbarous country 

 rich in bird life, I had no Noseda to compare notes 



