A YOUNG NATUR A LIST. 145 



" Its mouth," replied Sumichrast, smiling, " is well adapted to 

 its food. This bird — which we have here met with quite by 

 chance, as it usually frequents mountain tops — feeds on roots, 

 buds, and pine cones. Owing to its two mandibles being so 

 strongly made, and so curiously arranged, it can cut through, as 

 if with a pair of scissors, branches which a bird with a pointed 

 beak could never penetrate. 



" God is mindful of all His creatures," muttered I'Encuerado, 

 who was helping to skin the bird. " I had always fancied that 

 these poor creatures were deformed." 



Towards mid-day, the chances of our path brought us to the 

 bottom of a narrow valley, in the midst of a clump of shrubs ; 

 this seemed a fit spot for our bivouac. In the twinkling of an 

 eye, the ground was cleared of brushwood, and our hut con- 

 structed. We had scarcely sat down to take breath when a 

 slight rustling in the foliage attracted our attention, and an 

 animal with a bushy tail sprang down from a tree. Gringalet 

 darted at it, but an abominable smell, which almost sujBfocated us, 

 at once made him retreat. A skunk, which in shape and colour 

 somewhat resembles a squirrel, had thus perfectly poisoned our 

 bivouac. 



Nothing was left for us but to decamp as quickly as possible, 

 for the stench rendered the place uninhabitable for several 

 days. L'Encuerado could not find enough bad names for abusing 

 the animal, which, however, had only availed itself of the means 

 of defence with which nature has endowed it. Each of us now 

 resumed his burden, sadly enough, I must confess, and not with- 

 out throwing a disappointed glance at our hut. Sumichrast led 

 the way, and did not stop till we found ourselves perfectly ex- 

 hausted at the entrance to a deep and narrow gorge. We still 

 felt sickened by the horrible stench produced by the skunk, and, 

 as we did not wish to expose ourselves again to a similar misfor- 

 tune, we took care before constructing a fresh hut to search 

 round the shrubs and bushes. A few birds shot on the road 

 rendered it unnecessary for us to hunt any more, as we had an 

 abundance of food, so we all set to work to repair our wardrobes. 

 Our shoes first required our attention, and Sumichrast constituted 



