Another Thing About Rosas Which Made Me Ready
To Fall In With My Father's High Opinion Of Him Was The Number Of
Stories About Him Which Appealed To My Childish Imagination.
Many of
these related to his adventures when he would disguise himself as a
person of humble status and prowl about the city by night, especially
in the squalid quarters, where he would make the acquaintance of the
very poor in their hovels.
Most of these stories were probably
inventions and need not be told here; but there was one which I must
say something about because it is a bird story and greatly excited my
boyish interest.
I was often asked by our gaucho neighbours when I talked with them
about birds - and they all knew that that subject interested me above
all others - if I had ever heard _el canto_, or _el cuento del Bien-te-
veo_. That is to say, the ballad or tale of the _Bien-te-veo_ - a
species of tyrant-bird quite common in the country, with a brown back
and sulphur-yellow under parts, a crest on its head, and face barred
with black and white. It is a little larger than our butcher-bird and,
like it, is partly rapacious in its habits. The barred face and long
kingfisher-like beak give it a peculiarly knowing or cunning look, and
the effect is heightened by the long trisyllabic call constantly
uttered by the bird, from which it derives its name of Bien-te-veo,
which means I-can-see-you.
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