Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 165 
59. Cuauna cHavartia, Linn. 
Called “ Chaha” by the natives, after its cry. 
C. chavaria is, as may well be imagined, a most striking bird, 
both in size and appearance ; and when such is the case with 
one individual, the impression produced by seeing a hundred 
pairs together is not likely to be less. There is a large island 
among a network of swamps a mile from here, on which, at 
certain seasons of the year, I have frequently seen that 
number, not collected into a flock, but in pairs. I may note 
that it pairs for life. Of course, after the foregoing, it is 
unnecessary to add that it is resident and very common. 
The swamps and brackish lagoons constitute its haunts and 
feeding-grounds. On one or two occasions I have seen a 
bird alight in the deeper water and swim with only a very 
small portion of its body immersed; but it prefers to wade 
where the marsh is shallower. But what most excited my 
astonishment was to see a Chaha perched on the top of a tree 
twenty feet from the ground. A week after this occurrence 
I saw three birds in a similar position, in a small wood on 
the edge of one of our larger lagoons. During a long resi- 
dence here, and thorough acquaintance with this species 
(seeing it every day, in fact), I have never witnessed more than 
these two cases of such a feat on the part of C. chavaria, and 
should have been utterly sceptical of the testimony of alee: 
else to the fact. 
In the summer-time it is much addicted to soaring, and 
scores may be seen at a time, rising in great spiral circles till 
they become mere specks in the sky, and actually disappear 
at last. Even at this elevation the cry is distinctly audible, 
and has often drawn my attention to the bird as having really 
vanished into the blue ether. 
The cry, which may be often heard at night, is frequently 
indulged in, and consists of the syllables cha-ha, uttered by 
the male, while the female invariably responds to it, or rather 
follows it up with cha-ha-li, placing the accent on the last 
syllable. Preparatory to producing it, if on the ground, the 
bird draws back its head and neck slightly ; and at that mo- 
ment, if one is sufficiently near, the inhalation of air into the 
