A BiRD-HUNTEIt. 



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The great speed with which he passes through the level country, with 

 the external appearance of the bird, reminds one very much of a distant 

 locomotive, as it runs without any train attached. 



On one or two occasions we started them upon the pampas ; Mamore 

 ran very fast, and so did our horse, but the ostrich outran us with the 

 ease of a steam-engine. While running, its awkward looking legs are 

 thrown out on the sides in circles, so as to clear the long grass, but the 

 body and head are carried remarkably steady. We have never seen 

 ostrich feathers in the market of Trinidad, and believe the Indians never 

 hunt them, though they play with them at times by disguising them- 

 selves in a tiger skin, and prowl about near them for amusement. In- 

 dians pay great deference to those birds, originally worshipped by them. 

 It is possible that the ostrich held the same relation to the religious 

 worship of the Indians of these low lands, as the llama of the mount- 

 ains occupied among the Indians there. These Indians appear to have 

 no particular use for the ostrich, and for that reason do not hunt them, 

 for an Indian seldom puts to death any animal unnecessarily ; he makes 

 use of what he finds about him, and is careful not to destroy, nor to 

 waste without need. 



There are a few individuals among the Creoles of Santa Cruz who 

 understand the art of collecting and preserving the skins of birds with 

 arsenical soap. They make their living by stuffing birds with cotton, 

 to be boxed up and exported. The bird collector differs from the bark 

 gatherer; he is found on the plains as well as in the woods; his ammu- 

 nition is good powder, in small tin cannisters, different sized shot, and a 

 small quantity of quicksilver. The shot arc for ordinary birds. He 

 puts a few drops of quicksilver in a small piece of paper, and loads his 

 gun with it instead of shot. The quicksilver knocks the humming bird 

 over, without tearing the skin, or disfiguring the plumage; it stuns, and 

 before the bird recovers, the sportsman has him in hand. After the 

 hunter has collected some five hundred hinds, he then becomes difficult 

 to please ; he wants the beautiful little songster who sits at the base of 

 the Andes, and sends forth his music before the rising sun. There are 

 many birds who feed by night, and sleep in daylight ; some steal the 

 eggs of their neighbor's ; others drive away the parents, feed and rear 

 their young, or sit upon the eggs and hatch them for the rightful owner. 

 All these birds we see around us have their regular hours for feeding, 

 singing, bathing, resting, and sleeping. 



We met a bird-hunter in Trinidad ; he had been at work two years 

 collecting near six hundred different kinds. He was of opinion there 

 are over a thousand varieties of night and day birds to be found in the 

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