Chapter 20

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