92 Mr. E. Gibson on the Ornitholoi/y of [Ibis, 



Riiicones and the northern part of the estancia had been 

 fenced-oft' against intruders; and when the baffled poachers 

 of the little town of Ajo took to boats and went down the 

 river and so into the Rincones, I succeeded in getting the 

 Customs Authorities to prevent them. Our own [)eople were 

 equally bad (the temptation of "Bolearing'' a '^ Nandu '' 

 is irresistible to the .Gaucho-man) ; and to them I gave the 

 warning that the first individual found running the Rhea or 

 the Camp Deer [Cercus cainpestris) would be incontinently 

 discharged. The result was that, in a few years, we had 

 come to have quite a fair number of Deer and an abundance 

 of Rheas. Indeed, after a while, the pendulum had swung to 

 the other extreme — not as regards tiie former, always a shy 

 animal and never seen out of the Rincon fastnesses, but 

 in connection with the bird. In the open camp it was an 

 awkward enough customer in the nesting-season, owing to 

 the tactics of the male birds towards any intruding horseman ; 

 but when we took to encouraging them in a semi-domesticated 

 state about the w^oods and paddocks of the head-station, 

 they became a nuisance. One's horse might be the most 

 equable steed conceivable, but when suddenly subjected to the 

 surprise-attack of an old cock in charge of his "charras" the 

 result was either a frantic bolt through the scattered trees, 

 or, if checked, a rearing and bucking incident. The stately 

 slow-pacing bird was unrecognisable in this attack — as it 

 swept forward, half-crouching, the neck incurved, the wings 

 extended to their utmost limit and sweeping the grouml, 

 and the beak clattering like castanets — not in a diiect line 

 even, but in bending curves. On foot the peril was even 

 greater, the object of the assailant being to come to close 

 quarters and strike downwards with powerful leg and claws. 

 In the end the shotgun had to be resorted to, and the 

 number reduced to an odd pair or two in the least-frequented 

 paddocks. I much doubt whether, at the present moment, 

 any of my men are the happy possessors of a pair or two of 

 " bolas de avestruz." The "boleada"" is a most picturesque 

 sport, but it is not compatible with the peaceful welfare of 



