76 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



been fully explored. It is said to abound with fish of various 

 species, and both it and the Eiver Parau are frequented by 

 numerous alligators. Before the desolating wars of Lopez 

 there used to be a communication through the swamp to the 

 towns beyond or to the east of the lake, but this is now im- 

 passable, the reeds and paca (a sort of coarse grass used for 

 thatch) having grown up so thick, as well as a species of 

 floating creeper, which grows from 12 to 15 yards long, and 

 entangles the legs of a horse, endangering the safety of the 

 rider. There is also considerable risk from the presence of 

 large snakes in the swamps, which live on the frogs which 

 there abound, and on the eggs of water fowl. The country 

 surrounding Ytanu is flat, nor does it rise much in height 

 until the eastern side of the lake is reached, a little distance 

 beyond which it rises into mountains of some elevation, whose 

 tops are visible from the Estancia at a distance of 20 miles. 

 The immediate surroundings of the latter are possessed of 

 some degree of natural beauty ; clumps of palms of three 

 different fan-leaved species, and of other varieties of trees 

 varying in extent up to woods of some size, are intermingled 

 with natural meadows or openings of a swampy nature, with 

 abundance of good cattle grazing. The ground below the 

 palms is open and grassy, but in the other woods there is a 

 thick undergrowth of brushwood and thorny plants. Deer 

 of two species, one of which is as large as the red deer and 

 the other resembling the roe deer, are plentiful in the woods, 

 coming out in early morning and at nightfall to browse on 

 the short pasture. They are preyed on by the jaguar, which 

 is still not uncommon, and at times destructive to cattle. 



The nearest towns of importance are Villeta, distant 42 

 miles on the route to Asuncion, and Villa Oliva, distant 21 

 miles, both of which are situated on the Eiver Paraguay, and 

 appear in most maps. 



In the Notes which follow I have not thought it necessary 

 to repeat descriptions of the nesting habits of those species 

 mentioned in my Notes on Uruguay. 1 have given to those 

 species, which are common to both countries, the English 

 names adopted by Sclater and Hudson in their Argentine 

 Ornithology. I have also, as formerly, given the native name 



