392 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



back rode back and forth through the fields, armed with 

 slings and a bag full of pebbles; they hurled stones and 

 shouted themselves hoarse in a vain endeavor to frighten 

 away the marauding hosts. 



The birds, in bands of a few individuals to several hun- 

 dred, arrived each morning at daybreak, flying low and 

 swiftly, and making a "swishing" sound as they cut through 

 the air. When immediately over the rice-fields, the band 

 would suddenly swerve as if to circle, but drop almost in- 

 stantly and eat greedily without a moment's delay. Upon 

 seeing a flock approach, the men threw stones and shouted, 

 often succeeding in making it pass straight over or leave 

 the vicinity after circling once or twice. Should the birds 

 alight, the hail of stones soon put them to rout, but not 

 until a few grains of the much-coveted rice had been secured 

 by each individual. 



As the day advanced the birds spread out over the sur- 

 rounding country where they were not persecuted, and 

 spent most of the time on the ground near the cattle and 

 horses, often perched on the backs of the grazing animals. 

 At nightfall they returned to the cattails, and in passing 

 over the rice-fields again took toll from the planters. The 

 flocks in the marshes assumed tremendous proportions, and 

 the babble of voices resembled a rushing wind; the roar 

 of wings, if the masses were suddenly startled by the report 

 of a gun, was not unlike the roll of distant thunder. Before 

 finally settling down for the night they spent some time 

 hopping about on the mud-flats and eating minute animal 

 and vegetable matter. 



Carlos S. Reed, F. Z. S., Director of the Natural History 

 Museum, Mendoza, Argentine Republic, gives the results 

 of his investigations as to the food of Molothrus bonariensis 

 in a paper in the Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 

 afio XVII, No. 3, 1913. The following is a translation, 

 as literal as possible, of a part of the original paper, which 

 is written in Spanish: 



"In the summer of 1910 there occurred in various de- 



