The next day my brother said he had a confession to make to me. He and
the elder brother had agreed to play a practical joke on me, and had
snared a common cowbird and dyed or painted its tail a brilliant
scarlet, then liberated it, expecting that I should meet with it in my
day's rambles and bird-watching in the plantation and would be greatly
excited at the discovery of yet a third purple cowbird, with a scarlet
tail, but otherwise not distinguishable from the common one. Now, on
reflection, he was glad I had not found their bird and given them
their laugh, and he was ashamed at having tried to play such a mean
trick on me!
CHAPTER XX
BIRDING IN THE MARSHES
Visiting the marshes--Pajonales and Juncales--Abundant bird life--A
Coots' metropolis--Frightening the Coots--Grebe and Painted Snipe
colonies--The haunt of the Social Marsh Hawk--The beautiful Jacana and
its eggs--The colony of Marsh Trupials--The bird's music--The aquatic
plant Durasmillo--The Trupial's nest and eggs--Recalling a beauty that
has vanished--Our games with gaucho boys--I am injured by a bad boy--
The shepherd's advice--Getting my revenge in a treacherous manner--Was
it right or wrong?--The game of Hunting the Ostrich.
At this time of my boy-life most of the daylight hours were spent out
of doors, as when not watching the birds in our plantation or asked to
go and look at the flock grazing somewhere a mile or so from home, in
the absence of the shepherd or his boy, I was always away somewhere on
the plain with my small brother on egg-hunting or other expeditions.
Pages:
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300