H4 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



nested at a distance from the house, and it was 

 almost impossible ever to find their eggs, on account 

 of the extreme circumspection they observed in 

 going to and from their nests ; and when they 

 succeeded in escaping foxes, skunks, weasels, and 

 opossums, which, strange to say, they often did, 

 they would rear their chickens away out of sight 

 and hearing of the house, and only bring them home 

 when winter deprived them of their leafy covering 

 and made food scarce. During the summer, in my 

 rambles about the plantation, I would occasionally 

 surprise one of these half-wild h9ns with her brood ; 

 her distracted screams and motions would then 

 cause her chicks to scatter and vanish in all direc- 

 tions, and, until the supposed danger was past, they 

 would lie as close and well-concealed as young 

 partridges. These fowls in summer always lived in 

 small parties, each party composed of one cock and 

 as many hens as he could collect — usually three or 

 four. Bach family occupied its own feeding ground, 

 where it would pass a greater portion of each day. 

 The hen would nest at a considerable distance from 

 the feeding ground, sometimes as far as four or five 

 hundred yards away. After laying an egg she would 

 quit the nest, not walking from it as other fowls do, 

 but flying, the flight extending to a distance of from 

 fifteen to about fifty yards ; after which, still keeping 

 silence, she would walk or run, until, arrived at the 

 feeding ground, she would begin to cackle. At once 

 the cock, if within hearing, would utter a responsive 

 cackle, whereupon she would run to him and cackle 

 no more. Frequently the cackling call-note would 

 not be uttered more than two or three times, some- 



