WILDFOAVLING IN THE WILDERNESS. 373 



sensible beast would ever seek such " pasturage," and the 

 anomaly is quickly detected by the ducks. 



There were, however, abundance of wildfowl ; some of 

 the aggregations of pintails, indeed, were a memorable 

 sight, darkening acres of water, and in the upper marisma 

 we occasionally enjoj-ed a degree of success which would un- 

 doubtedly have been gratifying but for loftier anticipations. 

 Hiding along the marshy margins at daybreak, tempting 

 chances at twenties and thirties offered themselves, but 

 our iKiteros would not hear of our disturbing the wastes 

 for such paltry lots — " rcintc ntrchda jjares al primer tiro " 

 (twenty or thirty couples at the first shot) was their con- 

 stant refrain ; but sometimes the results belied their 

 judgment, and more than once before night Ave regretted 

 those matutinal scruples. On more fortunate days we did 

 succeed in working our way into the midst of such 

 assemblages of ducks as it rarely falls to the lot of wild- 

 fowlcr to see at close quarters all around him. It is 

 necessary, as a general rule, to keep to leeward of wild- 

 fowl ; but with the cahrestos this is of less im])ortance, and 

 owing to their numbers and the straggling area of their 

 phalanxes, it often happened that we had considerable 

 bodies of duck almost under our lee and actually appeared 

 to be in the midst of them. Not even in a gunning-punt 

 can such opportunities of observation of wild creatures be 

 enjoyed ; for, then, one is necessarily lying prone, with 

 eyes barely raised above water-level ; here, merely crouch- 

 ing behind a shaggy little pony, one commanded a clear 

 and uninterrupted view. 



The bulk of the ducks this winter (1888) proved to be 

 Pintails, though Wigeon were hardly less abundant. Wet 

 seasons suit the tastes of the former species, which then 

 throng the flooded plains in tens of thousands all 

 through the winter, whereas in dry years the Pintails 

 almost immediately pass on into Africa, not reappearing 

 till February, on their way north. The Pintail with his 

 very long neck, trim, slender build and sailing flight is a 

 striking-looking bird — its appearance on the wing suggest- 

 ing an intensified, or idealized, development of the duck 



