Massing of Wildfowl 377 



mirror-like surface of some great lucio and you will recognise 

 a new movement distinct and dissimilar from regular hibernal 

 habit. There float within sight (and the same is happening at 

 a score of places beyond sight) not only the usual loose flotillas, 

 but three, four, or five concrete assemblages of densely massed 

 fowl whose appearance the slightest scrutiny will diff"erentiate 

 from the others. These are not sitting cjuiescent. The binoculars 

 disclose a scene of perpetual motion, well-nigh of riot — one might 

 be regarding a feathered faction-fight. Hundreds of units fight, 

 splash, and chase, or throw up water with beating wings till surf 

 and spray half conceals the seething crowd. That flicker of 

 pinions and flying foam are, moreover, accompanied by a chorus 

 of myriad notes — a babel of twirling sound blended in rising 

 and falling cadences, comparable only to the distant roar of 

 some mighty city. A more singular spectacle we have not 

 encountered. 



Inquiry from one's companion elicits the reply that these 

 assemblages are hechando corros para irse (literally, *' forming 

 choruses preparatory to dej)arture " ) — an expression which con- 

 veyed no more significance to us than it can to the reader.^ 

 We decided to return at daybreak to see this thing through, 

 and after watching the j)henomenon a score of times can now 

 explain it. 



During the morning hours there are established focal points 

 whereat assemble those units already aff"ected by the emigrant 

 furor. These (at first, perhaps, but a score or two) raj^idly 

 increase in numbers till each focus becomes the nucleus of a 

 corro. The seasonal infection spreads, and as its influence 

 impregnates the surrounding masses, these, singly or in scores or 

 hundreds as the passion seizes them, hasten to join one or other 

 of the mobilising army-corps. Within an hour or two the in- 

 significant original nucleus has developed into a vast host all 

 in a ferment of agitation, and being constantly reinforced by 

 buzzing swarms of recruits from without. 



All this procedure, remember, has been taking place during 

 the blazinc: noontide heat. Now the hour is 2 p.m., and the first 

 gentle breath of the daily sea-breeze — the viento de la mar — is 

 becoming perceptible. This breeze springs from the S.W., and 



1 The word " Cor?-o" applies in Spanish to any noisy group — say a knot of people dis- 

 cussing politics in the street ! 



