240 THE RHEA'S VOICE 



of his own people, they may be described as in- 

 articulate when compared with other bird sounds, 

 seeing that they are not syllabled and are formless, 

 like the sighing and murmuring of the wind in 

 rushes and sedges, or the hum of the insects on a 

 still, hot summer's day in some locality where they 

 are excessively abundant. 



The rock-dove, the great bustard, the giant jabiru 

 stork, the pinnated grouse, the capanero or bell- 

 bird, and various other species, have the power of 

 inflating their gullet and the bladder-like appendage 

 attached to their heads with wind to make it a 

 "chamber of resonance." And so with the rhea; 

 heard at a distance, the sound produced is a low one, 

 in character something between a suspiration and a 

 booming. I remember that once, when riding late 

 one afternoon in a lonely place on the pampas, I 

 pulled up my horse again and again to listen to that 

 mysterious noise which is like no other sound on 

 earth. A sound that was like the thin blue summer 

 or dry fog, which partially veils or dims and appears 

 to pervade the entire landscape, producing the appear- 

 ance of a heaven and earth mingled or interfused; a 

 sound that was everywhere in earth and air and sky, 

 but changing in power; at intervals loud as the 

 summer humming of insects, then decreasing and at 

 last so faint as to be scarcely audible, so that listening 

 you almost came to think it an imaginary sound. 



Doubtless the sound came to me from a great 

 distance, as no male or other rhea was visible to me 

 at the time, although when emitting its call the bird 



