It is not often, however, that the Carancho ventures singly to attack adult and vigorous birds, except Tinamous; they prey by preference on the young or ailing, on small lambs and pigs left at a distance by their dams; and they also frequently attack and kill old and weakly sheep. Where anything is wrong with bird or beast they are very quick to detect it, and will follow a sportsman to pick up the wounded birds, intelligently keeping at a safe distance themselves. I once shot a Flamingo in the grey stage of plumage and had some trouble to cross the stream, on the opposite side of which the bird, wounded very slightly, was rapidly stalking away. In three or four minutes I was over and found my Flamingo endeavouring to defend itself against the assaults of a Carancho which had marked it for its own, and was striking it on the neck and breast in the most vigorous and determined way, sometimes from above, at other times alighting on the ground before it and springing up to strike like a game-cock. A spot of blood on the plumage of the wounded bird, which had only one wing slightly damaged, had been sufficient to call down the attack; for to the Carancho a spot of blood, a drooping wing, or any irregularity in the gait, quickly tells its tale. When several of these birds combine they are very bold. A friend told me that while voyaging on the Paraná river a Black-necked Swan flew past him hotly pursued by three Caranchos; and I also witnessed an attack by four birds on a widely different species. I was standing on the bank of a stream on the pampas watching a great concourse of birds of several kinds on the opposite shore, where the carcass of a horse, from which the hide had been stripped, lay at the edge of the water. One or two hundred Hooded Gulls and about a dozen Chimangos were gathered about the carcass, and close to them a very large flock of Glossy Ibises were wading about in the water, while amongst these, standing motionless in the water, was one solitary White Egret. Presently four Caranchos appeared, two adults and two young birds in brown plumage, and alighted on the ground near the carcass. The young birds advanced at once and began tearing at the flesh; while the two old birds stayed where they had alighted, as if disinclined to feed on half-putrid meat. Presently one of them sprung into the air and made a dash at the birds in the water, and instantly all the birds in the place rose into the air screaming loudly, the two young brown Caranchos only remaining on the ground. For a few moments I was in ignorance of the meaning of all this turmoil, when, suddenly, out of the confused black and white cloud of birds the Egret appeared, mounting vertically upwards with vigorous measured strokes. A moment later and first one, then the other, Carancho also emerged from the cloud, evidently pursuing the Egret, and only then the two brown birds sprung into the air and joined in the chase. For