KHEA. Rliea Americana 



first 1 heard it, while standing in the midst of some sand hillocks, I thought it was made 

 by some wild beast, for it is such a sound that one cannot tell from whence it comes, or 

 from how far distant. 



When we were at Bahia Blanca, in the months of September and October, the eggs 

 were found in extraordinary numbers all over the country. They either lie scattered 

 singly, in which case they are never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards " huachos," 

 or they are collected together into a hollow excavation, which forms the nest. Put of the 

 four nests which I saw, three contained twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth twenty- 

 seven. In one day's hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were found ; forty-four of these 

 were in two nests, and the remaining twenty, scattered huachos. The Gauchos 

 unanimously affirm, and there is no reason to doubt their statement, that the male bird 

 alone hatches the eggs, and that he, for some time afterwards, accompanies the young. 

 The cock, while in the nest, lies very close ; I have myself almost ridden over one. It is 

 asserted that at such times they are occasionally fierce, and even dangerous, and that they 

 have been known to attack a man on horseback, trying to kick and leap on him. My 

 informant pointed out to me an old man wriom he had seen much terrified by one of these 

 birds chasing him." 



