i86 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



burnt up by the sun and blown to the ground, they 

 scatter about a great deal in flocks of from one to 

 four or five hundred. At noon, however, they all 

 resort to a lagoon or marshy place containing water, 

 congregating day after day in such numbers that 

 they blacken the ground over an area of several acres 

 in extent ; and at a distance of a quarter of a mile 

 the din of their united voices resembles the roar of 

 a cataract. As population increases on the pampas 

 these stupendous gatherings are becoming more and 

 more rare. Twenty-five years ago it was an excep- 

 tional thing for a man to possess a gun, or to use 

 one when he had it; and if Chorlos were wanted, 

 a gaucho boy, with a string a yard long with a ball 

 of lead attached to each end, could knock down as 

 many as he liked. I have killed them in this way 

 myself, also with the bola perdida — a. ball at the end 

 of a long string thrown at random into a cloud of 

 birds. 



The habits, flight, and language of the Golden 

 Plover need not be spoken of here, as this bird has 

 been so often and exhaustively described by North 

 American ornithologists. The only peculiarity it 

 possesses which I have not seen mentioned, is its 

 faculty of producing a loud sound, as of a horn, when 

 a few passing birds, catching sight of others of their 

 kind on the ground below, descend violently and 

 almost vertically to the earth with unmoving wings. 

 This feat is, however, rarely witnessed j and on the 

 first occasion when I heard the sound high above 

 me, and looked up to see half a dozen Chorlos rushing 



