BIRDS. 



121 



I have seen it within the first range of mountains on the Uspallata plain, elevated 

 between six and seven thousand feet. The ordinary habits of the ostrich are well 

 known. They feed on vegetable matter, such as roots and grass ; but at Bahia 

 Blanca, I have repeatedly seen three or four come down at low water to the 

 extensive mud-banks which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos say, of 

 catching small fish. Although the ostrich in its habits is so shy, wary, and 

 solitary, and although so fleet in its pace, it falls a prey, without much difficulty, 

 to the Indian or Gaucho armed with the bolas. When several horsemen appear 

 in a semicircle, it becomes confounded7and does not know which way to escape. 

 They generally prefer running against the wind; yet at the first start they expand 

 their wings, and like a vessel make all sail. On one fine hot day I saw several 

 ostriches enter a bed of tall rashes, where they squatted concealed, till quite 

 closely approached. It is not generally known that ostriches readily take to the 

 water. Mr. King informs me that in Patagonia, at the Bay of San Bias and at 

 Port Valdes, he saw these birds swimming several times from island to island. 

 They ran into the water, both when driven down to a point, and likewise of their 

 own accord, when not frightened : the distance crossed was about 200 yards. 

 When swimming, very little of their bodies appear above water, and their necks 

 are extended a little forward : their progress is slow. On two occasions, I saw 

 some ostriches swimming across the Santa Cruz river, where it was about four 

 hundred yards wide, and the stream rapid. Captain Sturt,* when descending the 

 Murrumbidgee, in Australia, saw two emus in the act of swimming. 



The inhabitants who live in the country readily distinguish, even at a distance, 

 the male bird from the female. The former is larger and darker coloured,! and 

 has a larger head. The ostrich, I believe the cock, emits a singular, deep-toned, 

 hissing note. When first I heard it, standing in the midst of some sand-hillocks, 

 I thought it was made by some wild beast, for it is a sound that one cannot tell 

 whence it comes, or from how far distant. When we were at Bahia Blanca in the 

 months of September and October, the eggs were found, in extraordinary num- 

 bers, all over the country. They either lie scattered single, in which case they 

 are never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards, huachos, or they are collected 

 together into a shallow excavation, which forms the nest. Out of the four nests 

 which I saw, three contained twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth twenty-seven. 

 In one day's hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were found ; forty-four of these 

 were in two nests, and the remaining twenty scattered huachos. The Gauchos 

 unanimously affirm, and there is no reason to doubt their statement, that the male 



* Sturt's Travels, vol. ii. p. 74. 



t A Gaucho assured me that he had once seen a snow-white, or Albino variety, and that it was a most 

 beautiful bird. 



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