374 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



belonging to the owner of the terrain, and its untimely demise 

 would have cost us dearly. There were, however, hundreds 

 of ducks; teals, ruddies, shovellers, and pintails; also, many 

 coots, grebes, and rails. 



The body of water had an area of over a square mile, 

 and in its edges a tall fringe of cattails grew. Marsh-wrens 

 and military flycatchers haunted these swaying green 

 thickets, and grebes stole silently in and out of their ragged 

 borders. There were many disused nests of coots and ducks; 

 but while making our way through the high, tangled growth 

 we came suddenly upon the nest of a giant grebe (Fulica 

 gigantica) ; it consisted of a huge mass of reed stems, slightly 

 concave on top, and extending about a foot above the water; 

 in it were four pointed, brown eggs, heavily dotted with 

 deep brown and black. This was apparently a second clutch, 

 the first, perhaps, having been destroyed. There were 

 scores of other nests, but all were empty and falling into 

 decay. 



We spent a busy day tramping about the borders of the 

 hidden lake, watching the flocks of coming and departing 

 ducks and bagging such as we needed whenever a duck or 

 cormorant plumped into the water Boyle swam out and 

 got it; this was risky work that I did not encourage, as 

 the water was ice cold and many fathoms deep, and the 

 ensnaring under-water growths of reeds and cattail stems 

 formed dense, slimy masses capable of holding a man who 

 might become entangled in them until he became exhausted 

 and drowned. 



While at Volcan we stayed at the house of an Italian 

 trader. He asked if we had any recent reports of the war, 

 and then expressed the hope that it would last years longer, 

 as he owned part interest in a copper-mine, and was re- 

 ceiving war prices for the much-needed metal. We decided 

 not to accept his hospitality any longer and took the train 

 to Tilcara. I have often met foreigners in South America 

 (including some from the United States) who were repre- 

 sentative of anything but the better class of citizens of their 



