420 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



Black-headed gulls flew back and forth overhead, and cor- 

 morants stood on snags, drying their outstretched wings. 

 To shoot birds under such circumstances would be mere 

 slaughter, and the number one could kill is limited only 

 by the amount of ammunition at hand. The natives kill 

 four or five hundred ducks each day during this season, 

 and have done so for years, but the number of birds does 

 not seem to diminish. 



There were also numbers of noisy stilt-sandpipers, storks, 

 and screamers, and occasionally we ran across a pectoral 

 sandpiper which, as at Tafi, was so fat that it did not 

 attempt to fly and could be caught by throwing a hat over 

 it. Lapwings, too, passed over in small bunches, scream- 

 ing and quarrelling as they went. 



Nearly all the ducks were feeding on the small seeds of 

 the water-plants, and were rolling in fat; but on several 

 occasions we ran into small flocks of shovellers and teals 

 which were near the bank and refused to fly; an examina- 

 tion of several of them showed that they were very light 

 and probably diseased. 



As we neared the landing, dusk was just enveloping the 

 landscape. Red-breasted meadow-larks sang in the desert, 

 yellow-shouldered blackbirds babbled in the thick reeds, 

 and black ibises in flocks of many thousands were return- 

 ing from their feeding-grounds miles away, to spend the 

 night in the marshes. 



We desired our birds principally for scientific purposes; 

 that is, to prepare the skins for museum specimens, and 

 had shot only a limited number of the best-plumaged in- 

 dividuals of each species; but even then our bag amounted 

 to over half a hundred ducks, a number of geese and swans, 

 and a fairly good collection of coots, grebes, herons, and 

 other birds typical of the vast Argentine lake region. 



The preparation of all this material presented a stupen- 

 dous task. First they were cleaned thoroughly of all spots, 

 then hung up in a safe place, where they remained in good 

 condition on account of the cold. The days that followed 



