CARANCHO 83 



species, I was standing on the bank of a stream on 

 the pampas watching a great concourse of birds of 

 several kinds on the opposite shore, where the carcase 

 of a horse, from which the hide had been stripped, 

 lay at the edge of the water. One or two hundred 

 Hooded Gulls and about a dozen Chimangos were 

 gathered about the carcase, and close to them a very 

 large flock of Glossy Ibises were wading about in 

 the water, while amongst these, standing motionless 

 in the water, was one solitary White Egret. Presently 

 four Caranchos appeared, two adults and two young 

 birds in brown plumage, and alighted on the ground 

 near the carcase. The young birds advanced at once 

 and began tearing at the flesh ; while the two old 

 birds stayed where they had alighted, as if disinclined 

 to feed on half-putrid meat. Presently one of them 

 sprang into the air and made a dash at the birds in 

 the water, and instantly all the birds in the place 

 rose into the air screaming loudly, the two young 

 brown Caranchos only remaining on the ground. 

 For a few moments I was in ignorance of the mean- 

 ing of all this turmoil, when, suddenly, out of the 

 confused black and white cloud of birds the Egret 

 appeared, mounting vertically upwards with vigorous 

 measured strokes. A moment later, first one then 

 the other Carancho also emerged from the cloud, 

 evidently pursuing the Egret, and only then the two 

 brown birds sprang into the air and joined in the 

 chase. For some minutes I watched the four birds 

 toiling upwards with a wild zig-zag flight, while the 

 Egret, still rising vertically, seemed to leave them 



