8o BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



alighting within a yard of my feet. I stooped to take 

 hold of it, when, becoming frightened at my action, 

 it flew straight up and was seized in the talons of 

 its pursuer close to my face and carried away. 



In the next case the bird attacked was the Spur- 

 winged Lapwing, the irreconcilable enemy of the 

 Carancho and its bold and persistent persecutor. 

 The very sight of this Hawk rouses the Lapwings 

 to a frenzy of excitement, and springing aloft they 

 hasten to meet it in mid-air, screaming loudly, and 

 continue to harry it until it leaves their ground, 

 after which they return, and, ranged in triplets, 

 perform their triumphal dances, accompanied with 

 loud drumming notes. But if their hated foe alights 

 on the ground, or on some elevation near them, they 

 hover about him, and first one, then another, rushes 

 down with the greatest violence, and gliding near 

 him turns the bend of its wings so that the spur 

 appears almost to graze his head. While one bird is 

 descending others are rising upwards to renew their 

 charges ; and this persecution continues until they 

 drive him away or become exhausted with their 

 fruitless efforts. The Carancho, however, takes 

 little notice of his tormentors ; only when the Plover 

 comes very close, evidently bent on piercing his 

 skull with its sharp weapon, he quickly dodges his 

 head, after which he resumes his indifferent de- 

 meanour until the rush of the succeeding bird takes 

 place. 



While out riding one day a Carancho flew past 

 me attended by about thirty Lapwings, combined to 



