36 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



was to be made in public and the Naturalist in La 

 Plata to be for ever discredited. Luckily for my 

 poor little reputation he had made further enquiries 

 before quitting the country and discovered that I 

 had told the simple truth, that the screamer, albeit 

 a very big bird, had been excessively abundant and 

 in dry seasons often formed the stupendous gatherings 

 I had described ; finally, that in about a quarter of 

 a century it had been practically extirpated on the 

 pampas. All this I had from his own lips on his 

 return, an almost incredible example of candour, for 

 it is well known that we naturalists, like the early 

 Christians, love one another. 



Alas ! the crested screamer is but one of many noble 

 species which have met with the same fate in southern 

 Argentina. The rhea, the great blue heron, the 

 flamingo, the wood ibis, and the great blue ibis of 

 the marshes and the great black-faced ibis of the 

 uplands with its resounding cries as of giants beating 

 with hammers on iron plates ; and storks and upland 

 geese, and the white and the black-necked swans. 

 Then follow others of lesser size the snowy egrets 

 and other herons and bitterns, glossy ibis, rails and 

 courlans, big and little, the beautiful golden-winged 

 jacana, curlews and godwits, and waders and ducks 

 too numerous to mention. They were in myriads 

 on the rivers and marshes, they were seen in clouds 

 in the air, like starlings in England when they con- 

 gregate at their roosting-places. They are gone now, 

 or are rapidly going. Their destruction was proceed- 



