VIZCACHA-HUNTING AND GIANT SNAKES 405 



At last the long-awaited time arrived when the full moon 

 lighted up the landscape, so we made preparations to go 

 in pursuit of the wily vizcacha. The judge sent word for 

 us to be ready early one afternoon as he was going to ac- 

 company us, and we could spend a few hours beforehand 

 to advantage looking for other things. Two o'clock found 

 us clamoring at his door, and a few minutes later we had 

 started on our excursion. 



The judge carried a double-barrelled shotgun of Euro- 

 pean make; his ten-year-old son, whom he always called 

 the secretario, had a "nigger-killer," a large bag full of 

 pebbles and a machete; he was a fine little fellow, always 

 friendly, always polite, and nothing suited him better than 

 to tramp at his father's heels on the long excursions into 

 the country. I had my Parker which had served me so 

 splendidly in many places. 



For an hour or two we tramped broad reaches of cactus 

 desert; but it was silent as the very sphinx, and we saw 

 nothing. However, as the sun began to drop slowly out 

 of sight, things began to stir. At first we heard a shrill 

 turkey-like gobble some distance away, and holding up 

 his hand to command silence, the judge whispered: "Chuna; 

 they are right over there. You and the secretario go down 

 this little path, and I'll go on this side; quien sabef we might 

 head them off." His fine Spanish face beamed with ex- 

 citement as he turned away. 



We sneaked along for a distance of a hundred yards, 

 and presently I saw a pair of gray forms moving swiftly 

 away underneath the thorny growth. They looked like 

 fleeting shadows, and there was time for a hurried shot 

 only. The secretario rushed forward and triumphantly 

 brought back a large, crested, crane-like bird of a uniform 

 gray color, the common name of which is seriema. In some 

 ways the bird resembles a hawk. It lives on the ground 

 and eats grasshoppers, cavies, mice, and almost anything 

 it can catch and swallow; at night it roosts in the trees. 

 Its flesh is excellent. Perhaps no bird is more wary or harder 



