70 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



pursued by a hungry Chimango, determined to dine 

 on a portion of him* 



In the hot season, when marshes and lagoons are 

 drying up, the Chimango is seen associating with 

 Ibises and other waders, standing knee-deep in the 

 water and watching for tadpoles, frogs, and other 

 aquatic prey. He also wades after a very different 

 kind of food. At the bottom of pools, collected on 

 clayey soil after a summer shower, an edible fungus 

 grows, of a dull greenish colour and resembling 

 gelatine. He has found out that this fungus is good 

 for food, though I never saw any other creature 

 eating it. In cultivated districts he follows the plough 

 in company with the Black-headed Gulls, Molothri t 

 Guira Cuckoos, and Tyrant-birds, and clumsily 

 gleans amongst the fresh-turned mould for worms 

 and larvae. He also attends the pigs when they are 

 rooting on the plain to share any succulent treasure 

 turned up by their snouts ; for he is not a bird that 

 allows dignity to stand between him and his dinner. 

 In the autumn, on damp, sultry days, the red ants, 

 that make small conical mounds on the pampas, 

 are everywhere seen swarming. Rising high in the 

 air they form a little cloud or column, and hang 

 suspended for hours over the same spot. On such 

 days the Milvagos fare sumptuously on little insects, 

 and under each cloud of winged ants several of them 

 are to be seen in company with a few Flycatchers, 

 or other diminutive species, briskly running about 

 to pick up the falling manna, their enjoyment un- 

 disturbed by any sense of incongruity* 



