SCREAMERS. 291 



their feeding habits as Upland Geese. Their food was abundant, and they 

 were never persecuted by the natives. Their flesh is very dark, coarse- 

 grained, but good to eat, with a flavour resembling that of the Wild Duck ; 

 and there is a great deal of meat on a bird with a body larger than that of a 

 Swan. Yet no person ever thought of killing or eating the Chaja, and the birds 

 were permitted to increase to a marvellous extent. It was a common thing 

 a few years ago in the dry season to see them congregated in thousands, and 

 so little afraid of man were they, that I have often ridden through large 

 scattered flocks without making the birds take wing. A curious thing about 

 the Screamer is that it pairs for life, and yet is one of the most social of birds. 

 But if a large flock is closely looked at, the birds are invariably seen 

 methodically ranged in pairs. Another curious thing is that, notwithstanding 

 the formidable weapons they possess — each wing armed with two large spurs 

 — they are extremely pacific in temper. I have never been able to detect 

 even the slightest approach to a quarrel among them ; yet it is hard to 

 believe that they do not fight sometimes, since weapons of offence are 

 usually found correlated with the disposition to use them. Captive birds, 

 however, can be made to fight ; and I have known Guachos take them for the 

 pleasure of witnessing their battles. They are very easily tamed, and in that 

 state seem to show greater docility and intelligence than any of our domestic 

 birds, and become so attached to their home that it is quite safe to allow 

 them to fly about at will. They associate, but do not quarrel, with the 

 poultry. They are quick to distinguish strangers from the people of the 

 house, showing considerable suspicion of them, and sometimes raising a loud 

 alarm at a stranger's approach. Towards dogs and cats they are often 

 unfriendly ; and when breeding it is dangerous for a strange person to 

 approach the nest, as they will sometimes attack him with the greatest fury. 

 " The Screamer is a very heavy bird, and rises from the ground laboriously, 

 the wings, as in the case of the Swan, making a loud noise. Nevertheless, 

 it loves soaring, and will rise in an immense spiral circle until it wholly 

 disappears from Sfght in the zenith, even in the brightest weather ; and 

 considering its great bulk and dark colour, the height it ultimately attains 

 must be very great. (Jn sunny windless days, especially in winter and 

 spring, they often spend hours at a time in these sublime aerial exercises, 

 slowly floating round and round in vast circles, and singing at intervals. 

 How so heavy and comparatively short-winged a bird can sustain itself for 

 such long periods 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 performance, in which male and female 

 join, and which produces the eiject of harmony. The male begins, the 

 female takes up her part, and then with marvellous 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 afl'ects the mind in that silent, melancholy 

 wilderness. The Screamer sings all the year round at all hours, both nn 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 



