64 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



easy, loitering flight, and when on the wing does not 

 appear to have an object in view, like the Hawk, 

 but wanders and prowls about here and there, and 

 when it spies another bird it flies after him to see 

 if he has food in his eye. When one finds something 

 to eat the others try to deprive him of it, pursuing 

 him with great determination all over the place ; if 

 the foremost pursuer flags, a fresh bird takes its 

 place, until the object of so much contention — 

 perhaps after all only a bit of bone or skin — ^is 

 dropped to the ground, to be instantly snatched up 

 by some bird in the tail of the chase ; and he in 

 turn becomes the pursued of all the others. This 

 continues until one grows tired and leaves off watch- 

 ing them without seeing the result. They are 

 loquacious and sociable, frequently congregating in 

 loose companies of thirty or forty individuals, when 

 they spend several hours every day in spirited 

 exercises, soaring about like Martins, performing 

 endless evolutions, and joining in aerial mock battles. 

 When tired of these pastimes they all settle down 

 again, to remain for an hour or so perched on the 

 topmost boughs of trees or on other elevations ; 

 and at intervals one bird utters a very long, leisurely 

 chant, with a faUing inflection, followed by a series 

 of short notes, all the other birds joining in chorus 

 and uttering short notes in time with those of their 

 soloist or precentor. The nest is built on trees or 

 rushes in swamps, or on the ground amongst grass 

 and thistles. The eggs are three or four in number, 

 nearly spherical, blotched with deep red on a white 



