Concerning Eyes. 191 



shadow along the margin between the deep stream 

 and the giant rushes, he had snatched away to 

 death ; many a spotted wild pigeon had woke on its 

 perch at night with his cruel crooked talons 

 piercing its flesh ; and beyond the valley on the 

 bushy uplands many a crested tinamou had been 

 slain on her nest and her beautiful glossy dark 

 green eggs left to grow pale in the sun and wind, 

 the little lives that were in them dead because of 

 their mother's death. But I wanted that bird 

 badly, and hardened my heart ; the " demoniacal 

 laughter " with which he had so often answered the 

 rushing sound of the swift black river at eventide 

 would be heard no more. I fired ; he swerved on 

 his perch, remained suspended for a few moments, 

 then slowly fluttered down. Behind the spot where 

 he had fallen was a great mass of tangled dark- 

 green grass, out of which rose the tall, slender boles 

 of the trees ; overhead through the fretwork of 

 leafless twigs the sky was flushed with tender 

 roseate tints, for the sun had now gone down and 

 the surface of the earth was in shadow. There, in 

 such a scene, and with the wintry quiet of the 

 desert over it all, I found my victim stung by his 

 wounds to fury and prepared for the last supreme 

 effort. Even in repose he is a big eagle-like bird ; 

 now his appearance was quite altered, and in the 

 dim, uncertain light he looked gigantic in size a 

 monster of strange form and terrible aspect. Each 

 particular feather stood out on end, the tawny 

 barred tail spread out like a fan, the immense tiger- 



