rgo Idle Days in Patagonia. 



of a puma or wild cat, blazing with wrath, are 

 wonderful to see ; sometimes the sight of them 

 affects one like an electric shock ; but for intense 

 brilliance and quick changes, the dark orbs kindling 

 with the startling suddenness of a cloud illumined 

 by flashes of lightning, the yellow globes of the owl 

 are unparalleled. Some readers might think my 

 language exaggerated. Descriptions of bright sun- 

 sets and of storms with thunder and lightning 

 would, no doubt, sound extravagant to one who had 

 never witnessed these phenomena. Those only who 

 spend years " conversing with wdld animals in 

 desert places," to quote Azara's words, know that, 

 as with the atmosphere, so with animal life, there 

 are special moments ; and that a creature present- 

 ing a very sorry appearance dead in a museum, or 

 living in captivity, may, when hard pressed and 

 fighting for life in its own fastness, he sublimed by 

 its fury into a weird and terrible object. 



Nature has many surprises for those who wait on 

 her ; one of the greatest she ever favoured me with 

 was the sight of a wounded Magellanic eagle-owl 

 I shot in Pataq;onia. The haunt of this bird was an 



"to^ 



island in the river, overgrown with giant grasses 

 and tall willows, leafless now, for it was in the 

 middle of winter. Here I sought for and found 

 him waiting on his perch for the sun to set. He 

 eyed me so calmly when I aimed my gun, I scarcely 

 had the heart to pull the trigger. He had reigned 

 there so long, the feudal tyrant of that remote 

 wilderness ! Many a Avater-rat, stealing like a 



