distinct kinds of _avestruz_ in different parts of the country. Of
myself I've seen three. First, a very small sort, not much bigger than
a turkey cock. It's darker coloured than the kind we're eating, with
shorter legs and feathered further down. It don't lay so many eggs
either; but, strange to say, they are almost as big as those of the
other sort, only differently shaped, and with a tinge of blue on the
shell. It I saw when I once went on an expedition with the Buenos Ayres
army down south to the plains of Patagonia. There the climate is much
colder than up here, and the _avestruz petise_, as the bird's called,
seems to like that best; since it's never seen on the warm pampas
farther north. On the other hand, the sort we have here, which is the
biggest of all, never strays down to these very cold districts, but goes
all over the _Chaco_ country, where it's hottest. The third kind I've
seen is in bulk about midways between the two; but it's a very rare
bird, and I believe not known to the learned _naturalistas_. Isn't that
so, Senor Ludwig?"

"Indeed, yes. I never heard of a third species, though father has told
me of the _avestruz petise_; which, as you say, is only found far south,
ranging from the Rio Negro to the Straits of Magellan."

"Well," continues Gaspar, resuming his account, "I'm sure of there being
there sorts; though I don't know much about the other two, only this
we've met here. Of them I ought to know a good deal, having hunted them
as often as there are days in the year. One thing there's been no end
of disputation about; and that is whether several hens lay their eggs in
the same nest. Now, I can say for certain they do. I've seen several
go to the same nest, one after the other, and on the same day too. What
should take them there if not to lay their eggs? True, they drop them
about everywhere, in a very loose, careless way; as can be told by their
being seen scattered all over the _campo_, and far from any nest. What
this is for I cannot myself tell; though I've heard some gauchos say
that these stray eggs--_huachos_ we call them--are laid here and there
for the young birds to feed upon. But that can't be so, since the
_huachos_ are never found pecked or broken, but always whole, whether
they be fresh or addled. I think it's more likely that the hens drop
these stray eggs because they have no nest in which to put them; that
where they have laid their others being already full.