Ducks, clothed with black and white feathers, are extremely numerous,
and pass the day in the water, and the night in trees close by it. They
are most easily and frequently shot out of the water. Their young, when
removed to towns, seldom become tame. Other ducks, which the Abipones
call roakabì, have feathers of various colours, and beautifully red
feet. Small ducks, called by the Abipones ruililiè, flit about together
at night, making a loud hissing, and are believed by the Abipones to be
spirits of the dead. The most remarkable are certain middle-sized ducks,
of a beautiful rose colour from the head to the tail, but their natural
ill smell annoys the nostrils of all who approach them, as much as the
beauty of their plumage delights beholders. Under the beautiful feathers
of their wings and the rest of their body, (of which not only the plume,
but the quill, which we use to write with, is tinged with a deep red
colour,) is concealed skin, bone, and a very scanty portion of most
stinking flesh. They are slenderer than geese's quills, and are used by
the Abipones to adorn and crown their heads.