1920,] Cape San Aiifonio, Buenos Ayres, 79 



at the heiul-statiou — in the patio. And I think " Piu-pio/^ 

 as he was calhid, Avas possessed of seven devils. Pet lambs 

 he scaiificd till they had to be removed from his unholy 

 vicinity; cats and dogs went in terror of their lives ; human 

 beings lie ignored, if left to himself, but it needed only the 

 challenging call of ''Pio-pio" to him, wherever he happened 

 to be — standing about one of the kitchen-doors, on the 

 verandah, of elsewhere in the patio — and down-and-out 

 (snake-like) would go his bead, as with an answering cry of 

 " Pio-pio/^ and at a swift run, he would make straight for 

 the foe. It was well then to be in riding-boots; the strength 

 of his bill was only equalised by the ferocity of his assaults, 

 each cut or thrust being accompanied by the high shrill 

 " Pio-pio.'^ And when he remained alone, in victorious 

 possession of the battle-field, the head was directed straight 

 upwards, the bill opened to its full extent, and a great and 

 prolonged metallic note expressed his triumph. 



Mr. JM. A. Runnacles informed me that in 1912 a 

 large colony of this species had nested in the vicinity of 

 the Laguiia Milan ; but I believe the circumstances had 

 been favourable for the one season alone, and that the 

 birds did )iot return in after-years. The colony with which 

 I am familiar (near Cape San Antonio), and of which I first 

 made the acquaintance in 1885, had then been in existence 

 for an indefinite period, and may still be so for aught I 

 know. It was situated on a great mud-flat, in the heart of 

 the Tuyu Rincones (for that Estancia has also its share 

 of these delectable waste-lands) ; no quadruped could 

 approach the site, guarded as it was on each side by an 

 impassable cangrejal or tidal creek, only to be negotiated on 

 foot or by boat ; and even the low flat itself, honeycombed 

 by crabs and with some patches of Salicornia growing upon 

 it, was of the kind only capable of bearing my weight 

 on the crust with difficulty. Altogether a most lonely 

 locality, amidst jungles of pampa and other giant grasses ; 

 a few copses and strips of stunted tala trees some miles 

 inland, and the Tuyu head-station woods a blue line on the 

 far horizon (those of tlie Yngleses over the edge of the world 



