s
and waves arose, they came in nearer the shores, but seldom left
the water. The great extent of shallow water in Parinacochas offers
them a splendid, wide feeding ground. We wondered where they all
came from. Apparently they do not breed here. Although there were
thousands and thousands of birds, we could find no flamingo nests,
either old or new, search as we would. It offers a most interesting
problem for some enterprising biological explorer. Probably Mr. Frank
Chapman will some day solve it.

Next in number to the flamingoes were the beautiful white gulls (or
terns?), looking strangely out of place in this Andean lake 11,500
feet above the sea. They usually kept together in flocks of several
hundred. There were quantities of small black divers in the deeper
parts of the lake where the flamingoes did not go. The divers were
very quick and keen, true individualists operating alone and showing
astonishing ability in swimming long distances under water. The large
black ducks were much more fearless than the flamingoes and were
willing to swim very near the canoe. When frightened, they raced over
the water at a tremendous pace, using both wings and feet in their
efforts to escape. These ducks kept in large flocks and were about
as common as the small divers. Here and there in the lake were a few
tiny little islands, each containing a single deserted nest, possibly
belonging to an ibis or a duck. In the banks of a low stream near
our first camp were holes made by woodpeckers, who in this country
look in vain for trees and telegraph poles.

Occasionally, a mile or so from shore, my boat would startle a great
amphibious ox standing in the water up to his middle, calmly eating
the succulent water grass. To secure it he had to plunge his head
and neck well under the surface.

While I was raising blisters and frightening oxen and flamingoes,
Mr. Tucker triangulated the Parinacochas Basin, making the first
accurate map of this vicinity. As he carried his theodolite from point
to point he often stirred up little ground owls, who gazed at him with
solemn, reproachful looks. And they were not the only individuals to
regard his activities with suspicion and dislike. Part of my work was
to construct signal stations by piling rocks at conspicuous points on
the well-rounded hills so as to enable the triangulation to proceed as
rapidly as possible. During the night some of these signal stations
would disappear, torn down by the s