PYROTHERIUM SKULL 8l 



over eight feet high. Most of the remains seemed to have 

 been pretty well scattered, as though the carcasses had been 

 pulled to pieces by the carnivors of that earlier time. Day 

 by day our pile in the tent grew and began to crowd us into 

 the corner. 



On one of the ledges we came upon a large buzzard's nest 

 containing two eggs the size of a hen's egg, but covered with 

 spatters of brown color. The old birds made a great fuss 

 about our being on the hill, until one noon when they were 

 off Turner climbed down to the nest and collected the eggs, 

 after which the birds left the hill to us. 



On Sunday, the twentieth of October, Billy took Blackie 

 and rode off to the south, while I mounted Colorado and 

 went west across the river, to look over the excellent 

 exposures on these sides of us. Reaching the river I found 

 it small but with a poor bottom, so I had to ride a mile 

 upstream to where a gaucho showed me a crossing, and we 

 made the passage, though Colorado had to swim a bit. 

 On reaching the top of the bank the men insisted on my 

 coming in with them and having lunch, for which they 

 scrambled an ostrich egg from some twenty which they had 

 piled in the corner, and told me that some great bones were 

 to be found in the adjacent bluffs. These may not have 

 been mythical, but I was unable to find even a trace of a 

 bone fragment, and kept going from one exposure to another 

 until mid afternoon, when we stopped so that the horse 

 could pick up a little grass. Finally we started back by 

 a new route to cross still other exposures, but unfortunately 

 they were barren of fossils. Being anxious to get across the 

 river before dark, we pushed along at a hard pace, bringing 

 out the fine endurance of my horse, which I had not before 

 realized. 



Just after crossing the stream I ran upon the nest of a 

 martineta, a bird very much like our partridge in appear- 

 ance, and the common gamebird of the country. They 

 live entirely on leaves, seeds, and grass and go about in 



