Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/427



TO THE TEBTCUARr RIVER. 397

black winga. It flies high, and carries off a full charge of shot ; the flesh is excellent, and the weight is often 9 lbs. I have heard even of 13 lbs., rivalling a full-sized goose. A well- stuffed specimen may be found in the museum of Buenos Aires. The other is the Brazilian palamedea cornuta, here known as ja-kha, " let us go ! " " vamos ! " a good imitation of its dissyllabic cry, by us corrupted to chakhan-chaja, jaja, and even tajan. Mr. Mansfield (page 282) believes it to be a turkey, and it is probably the " wild turkey " or the " huge blue-grey bustard " of Mr. Ross Johnson. It chooses the tops of the tallest trees, keeping a sharp look-out from under its erectile crest, but its loud cry soon betrays it. This bird is said to eat serpents like the Brazilian siriema, which so much resembles the South African secretary (Geronticus nu- difrons and ccerulescens.) Captain Johnston of Arazaty, a good observer, who has opened dead palamedeas, declared to us that he never found anything but vegetable substances in their crops. He easily domesticated them when in captivity; they are far better to look after poultry than the irritable agami (psophia), and, being armed with a pair of strong wing-spurs, they are not afraid of dogs.

The other birds are of little importance. Gulls (larus) appear everywhere up the river. Ducks, water-hens, (fulica), and parras abound in the swamps, and the mirasol (paddy-bird), so ugly in captivity, stands like a hunch- backed Narcissus to admire his own white image in the water. Familiar to me are the scissor-bird ; Joao de Barros, the oven-bird ; the pretty viuava or widow, robed in jet and snow, as if just from the latest mourning establishment ; the neat little swallow ; the woodpecker, the two species of the anura, coprophagus, and the pert tico-tico. Amongst the parrots and parroquets, of which seven or eight kinds are known, I saw nothing remarkable. According to old