SHOOTING IN CHILE. 197 



five or six handurrias, and I think tliey they are pretty 

 tame. Now, my advice is to take Jose's old horse there, 

 and try and stalk them; recollect, you will only get 

 one shot, and they are very cliahlos to kill. I need 

 hardly mention the alacrity with which I fixed up my 

 traps. Mounting the other horse, which was about the 

 size of, and not very unlike a large shaggy Newfound- 

 land dog, and putting a couple of duckshot cartridges 

 in my gun, I hurried back to where I had shot the snipe. 

 Not a sign of a handurria was to be seen ! All of a 

 sudden I caught sight of something right in the middle 

 of a large potrero, which, after watching for some time, 

 I made out as the heads of the rascally birds just peering 

 out of a watercourse; there was not the sign of a 

 covert near, and the only resource I had was to stalk 

 them. I must confess I had considerable misgivings 

 about the success of my undertaking, but anyhow I 

 could but try. Taking ofi" the top skins of my saddle, 

 I placed my poncho curtain-wise on the ofi" side of the 

 horse, and taking the bit out of his mouth, twisted the 

 lasso round his under jaw. Walking on the ofi" side of 

 him, and carrying my gun at the sling, I commenced 

 walking all round the potrero, outside the wall. The 

 bandu7'rias came out of the ditch where they were 

 feeding, and watched me, or rather the horse, in a 

 manner that showed they were considerably on the qui 

 vive; however, seeing but an old horse, they gradually 

 began to cry out at the top of their voices — a sure 

 sign that they thought everything was right. I gradually 

 got round to the gate of the jpotrero, and after stopping 

 a minute walked my horse in ; he seemed to like the 

 job better than being spurred and thrashed by Master 

 Jose. The birds seemed rather uneasy at this second 



