INTRODUCTION vii 
ever-increasing number of readers—to all those, in 
fact, who love a bird, that is to say, the living bird, 
not the dead stuffed specimen in a cabinet. It was 
well and wisely said by Professor Mivart in his great 
anatomical work that “‘ there is no such thing as a 
dead bird.” For the body is but the case, the habit, 
and when the life and soul have gone out of it, what 
is left is nothing but dust. 
To return for a few moments to the writer on 
birds who came so long before me. Don Felix de 
Azara, a Spanish gentleman, a person of importance 
in his time, a traveller and author of several works, 
was yet able to find his chief pleasure in “ con- 
versing with wild animals in desert places in a 
remote land.” 
The bird life of those then little-known countries 
had a special attraction for him, and he was a most 
excellent observer and described them carefully. His 
brief notes on their habits are all the better to read 
on account of his simple natural diction, so rare to 
find in the Spanish language, the beauty and sonority 
of which perpetually tempts the writer to prolixity 
and a florid style. 
Azara had one great advantage over me. He had 
his friend Noseda, a village priest in Paraguay, who 
shared his interest in the bird life of the district, 
and made copious notes of his observations, and 
these Azara could draw upon. Noseda was, indeed, 
a sort of Gilbert White (his contemporary), and had 
his “ parish of Selborne"’ in a barbarous country 
rich in bird life. I had no Noseda to compare notes 
