332 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



and finally turning they started off at a fast trot, 

 following up the scent in a straight line, until they 

 arrived at the place where one of their kind had 

 met its death. The contagion spread, and before 

 long all the cattle were congregated on the fatal 

 spot, and began moving round in a dense mass, 

 bellowing continually. 



It may be remarked here that the animal has 

 a peculiar language on occasions like this ; it 

 emits a succession of short bellowing cries, like 

 excited exclamations, followed by a very loud 

 cry, alternately sinking into a hoarse murmur, and 

 rising to a kind of scream that grates harshly on 

 the sense. Of the ordinary "cow-music" I am a 

 great admirer, and take as much pleasure in it as 

 in the cries and melody of birds and the sound of 

 the wind in trees ; but this performance of cattle 

 excited by the smell of blood is most distressing to 

 hear. 



The animals that had forced their way into 

 the centre of the mass to the spot where the blood 

 was, pawed the earthj and dug it up with their 

 horns, and trampled each other down in their frantic 

 excitement. It was terrible to see and hear them. 

 The action of those on the border of the living mass 

 in perpetually moving round in a circle with dolorous 

 bellowings, was like that of the women in an Indian 

 village when a warrior dies, and all night they 

 shriek and howl with simulated grief, going round 

 and round the dead man's hut in an endless 

 procession. 



The "bull and red rag " instinct, as it may be 

 called, comes next in order. 



