ii2 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



He said he had flushed it from a rush-bed, and as 

 the bird flew away over dry land, he gave chase, and 

 soon ran it down and captured it ; but though 

 perfectly uninjured it quickly died in his hand. As 

 it was too late in the evening for me to deal with it 

 I put it in a cage which had once been used to keep 

 a Cardinal Finch in and hung it up under the veranda 

 where it would be safe from cats. Next morning 

 to my very great astonishment it was gone 1 A 

 long-dead bird in a closed cage hung high up out of 

 the way for safety, and now it was not there ! How 

 explain such a thing t There was no possible ex- 

 planation, and it made me perfectly miserable for 

 days thinking of it* Then at last it dawned on my 

 weary brain that my dead bird had been alive all the 

 time, that life had at all events come back to it, and 

 that by squeezing its thin body edgeways through 

 the wire it made its escape. Yet the wires were 

 close enough to keep a Cardinal in confinement ! 



NIGHT-HERON 



Nycticorax obscurus 



Above ashy; front white; head, neck, and scapulars greenish black ; 

 long crest plumes white ; beneath pale ; length 36, wing 12 inches. 



IN the Argentine Republic the Night-Heron lives 

 in communities, and passes the hours of daylight 

 perched inactive on large trees or in marshes on the 

 rushes, and when disturbed by day they rise up with 



