CRESTED SCREAMER 133 



in the thin upper air to which it rises has not yet 

 been explained. 



The voice is very powerful. When disturbed, or 

 when the nest is approached, both birds utter at 

 intervals a loud alarm-cry, resembling in sound the 

 anger-cry of the Peacock, but twice as loud. At other 

 times its voice is exercised in a kind of singing per- 

 formance, in which male and female join, and which 

 produces the effect of harmony. The male begins, 

 the female takes up her part, and then with mar- 

 vellous strength and spirit they pour forth a torrent 

 of strangely-contrasted sounds — ^some bassoon-like 

 in their depth and volume, some like drum-beats, 

 and others long, clear, and ringing. It is the loudest 

 animal-sound of the pampas, and its jubilant, martial 

 character strongly affects the mind in that silent, 

 melancholy wilderness. 



The Screamers sing all the year round, at all hours, 

 both on the ground and when soaring ; when in 

 pairs the two birds invariably sing together, and 

 when in flocks they sing in concert. At night they 

 are heard about nine o'clock in the evening, and again 

 just before dawn. It is not unusual, however, to 

 hear them singing at other hours. 



The nest is a large fabric placed among the low 

 rushes and water-lilies, and is sometimes seen float- 

 ing on the water, away from its moorings. The eggs 

 are five, pointed at one end, pure white, and in size 

 like the eggs of the domestic Goose. The young are 

 clothed in yellow down like goslings, and follow the 

 parents about from the date of hatching. 



