Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 161 
June, and July. In August, particularly if the season has 
been rainy, large flocks come in from the S.W., and scatter 
themselves all through the swamps and over the low ground. 
These flocks vary in size from a few individuals up to a hun- 
dred; and the birds, excepting those few remaining through 
the winter with us, feed always together. In January and 
February it may be found on the plains, locusts seeming to 
constitute its principal food then. It is also one of the fre- 
quenters of the killing-establishment, coming in flocks for the 
offal. The flight is strong and rapid. The cry or note, a 
species of squawk, repeated two or three times. 
Of its breeding-habits I know nothing, and cannot even 
learn if it nests here or not. 
51. VANELLUS CAYENNENSIS (Gm.). 
Called by the natives ‘ Tero-tero,” from its cry. 
Very common. Generally to be met with in pairs, but in 
the autumn may sometimes be found in small flocks. It fre- 
quents both the plains and low or marshy grounds, feeding 
on worms, insects, &c. The ery is totally unlike that of the 
Lapwing, being a sharp ¢ero-tero, tero-tero, with nothing of 
the Lapwing’s plaintive note about it. At night the passing 
of any person or animal produces its utterance; and conse- 
quently the natives use it as a watchman, frequently alluding 
to the cry as the signal of somebody passing by, or a herd 
of horses or cattle stampeding. On the frontier it usually 
heralds a midnight Indian raid; and I remember once hearing 
the narrative of an attack on one of the smaller forts, in 
which nearly seventy Christians were killed: the narrator 
(one of the three or four survivors) mentioning, quite natu- 
rally, that the sentinel heard the tero-teroing, and it did not 
need the following roll of countless horse-hoofs to cause him 
to raise the alarm. 
A friend told me of a white V. cayennensis he saw near 
Bahia Blanca ; and two or three years ago I saw a specimen 
semialbino in its plumage. The wing-spurs, which are of a 
beautiful pale coral-colour, I never saw used; and they seem 
to be more ornamental than useful. (Iris ruby-coloured, 
pupil black.) 
