194 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



the surface ; the eggs are four in number, pyriform, 

 dark olive colour spotted with brownish black, the 

 spots being very thickly crowded at the large end. 

 During incubation the male keeps guard and utters 

 a warning note on the appearance of an enemy, 

 whereupon the female quits the nest. They also 

 counterfeit lameness to draw a person from the 

 neighbourhood of the eggs or young, but in a manner 

 peculiar to this species; for owing to the great 

 length of their legs they cannot drag themselves 

 along the ground, as Ducks, Plover, Partridges, and 

 other birds do. Placing themselves at a distance of 

 forty or fifty yards from the intruder, but with breast 

 towards him, they flutter about a foot above the 

 ground, their long legs dangling under them, and 

 appear as if struggling to rise and repeatedly falling 

 back. If approached they slowly retire, still fluttering 

 just above the grass and without making any sound. 

 After the young birds are able to fly they remain 

 with the parents until the following spring; and 

 sometimes two or three families associate together, 

 raising the number of the flock to fifteen or twenty 

 birds. The young have a sharp, querulous cry of 

 two notes ; the plumage is brown and pale grey ; 

 the eyes black. After nine or ten months the adult 

 plumage is acquired, not by moulting, but by a 

 gradual change in the colours of the feathers. By 

 the same gradual process the eye changes from black 

 to crimson, the outer edge of the iris first assuming 

 a dull reddish colour, which brightens and widens 

 until the whole iris becomes of a vivid red. 



