The Gauchos roared with laughter; they cried out that
they had seen every sort of animal caught, but had never before
seen a man caught by himself.
During the two succeeding days, I reached the farthest point which
I was anxious to examine. The country wore the same aspect, till at
last the fine green turf became more wearisome than a dusty
turnpike road. We everywhere saw great numbers of partridges
(Nothura major). These birds do not go in coveys, nor do they
conceal themselves like the English kind. It appears a very silly
bird. A man on horseback by riding round and round in a circle, or
rather in a spire, so as to approach closer each time, may knock on
the head as many as he pleases. The more common method is to catch
them with a running noose, or little lazo, made of the stem of an
ostrich's feather, fastened to the end of a long stick. A boy on a
quiet old horse will frequently thus catch thirty or forty in a
day. In Arctic North America the Indians catch the Varying Hare by
walking spirally round and round it, when on its form: the middle
of the day is reckoned the best time, when the sun is high, and the
shadow of the hunter not very long. (3/1.
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