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Show 276 MR. II. PRICHARD ON PATAGONIAN MAMMALS. [Apr. 15, dying ? or are the bones and remains of animals eaten by lions or by Indians ? or are they washed together by floods ? Certain it is that they are remarkably numerous near the banks of the river (Santa Cruz), but not so elsewhere." It is true that, although one comes upon skeletons of these animals upon the pampas, they are not crowded together as they are in the caiiadones or by the lakes near water. At the edge of a lagoon at the eastern end of Mystery Plain a great number of skeletons were to be seen. They extended in a wide track down the hillside and to the edge of the water. At Lake Viedma the margins of the lake, near the outflow of the River Leona, were covered with their skins and bones. The meaning of this I gathered from Mr. Ernest Cattle. He told me that in the winter of 1899 enormous numbers of Guanaco sought the Lake Argentino, and died of starvation upon its shores. In the severities of winter they seek drinking-places where there are large masses of water likely to be unfrozen. The few last winters in Patagonia have been so severe as to work great havoc among the herds of Guanaco. At nightfall Guanacos gather into close order, a large herd collecting in a small radius. They seem to choose open spaces in which to pass the hours of darkness. In moments of danger also they pack together densely. At the sound of a shot, the outlying members of a herd will close up and sway their long necks almost to the ground in unison. I see that Darwin says that Guanaco are " generally very wild and wary." In places where they are hunted by the Indians this is no doubt the case, but on this point no law can be laid down. In some districts the Guanaco is very difficult of approach: in others extremely easy. Their instinct of curiosity is very largely developed. During our wanderings I studied the habits of the Guanaco with ever increasing interest. In cold weather they become extraordinarily tame, and will permit a man to walk among them as a shepherd walks among his sheep. The young are brought forth in the months of October, November, and the early part of December. In Southern Patagonia some are born as late as the end of December. During the period of copulation the bucks fight a good deal. I never shot an old buck which was not seamed and scarred with the marks of these contests. When fighting they give vent to loud squeals of rage; they kick with their fore feet and bite savagely, mostly at the neck of the antagonist. The marks of these bites are often deep and long. The skin of the neck is very thick. As has been noted before, the Guanacos drop all their clung in one spot, and near these spots their wallows are ordinarily to be found. I saw an old buck spend a long time over his toilet while his wives looked on and waited. He would pass nearly half an hour on his back with his legs in the air, at intervals standing up to neigh, and then rolling again. |