CHAP. Ill] RANCHMEN AND BULLS 89 



bills, were common in the little garden back of the 

 house ; their habits were those of creepers, and they 

 scrambled with agility up, along, and under the trunks 

 and branches, and along the posts and rails of the fence, 

 thrusting the bill into crevices for insects. The oven- 

 birds, which had the carriage and somewhat the look 

 of wood-thrushes, I am sure would prove delightful 

 friends'on a close acquaintance ; they are very individual, 

 not only in the extraordinary domed mud nests they 

 build, but in all their ways, in their bright alertness, 

 their interest in and curiosity about whatever goes on, 

 their rather jerky quickness of movement, and their 

 loud and varied calls. With a little encouragement they 

 become tame and familiar. The parakeets were too 

 noisy, but otherwise were most attractive little birds, 

 as they flew to and fro and scrambled about in the top of 

 the palm behind the house. There was one showy kind 

 of king-bird or tyrant flycatcher, lustrous black with a 

 white head. 



One afternoon several score cattle were driven into a 

 big square corral near the house, in order to brand the 

 calves and a number of unbranded yearlings and two- 

 year-olds. A special element of excitement was added 

 by the presence of a dozen big bulls which were to be 

 turned into draught-oxen. The agility, nerve, and 

 prowess of the ranch workmen, the herders or gauchos, 

 were noteworthy. The dark-skinned men were obviously 

 mainly of Indian and negro descent, although some of 

 them also showed a strong strain of white blood. They 

 wore the usual shirt, trousers, and fringed leather apron, 

 with jim-crow hats. Their bare feet must have been 

 literally as tough as horn ; for when one of them roped 

 a big bull he would brace himself, bending back until he 

 was almost sitting down and digging his heels into the 



