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Show flO ZOOLOGY OF TilE VOYAGE OF TilE BEAGLE "This animal is found only where the country has rather a desert character. lt is a common feature in the landscape of Patagonia, to see in the distance two or three of these Cavies hopping one after another in a straight line over the gravelly plains, thinly clothed by a few thorny bushes and a withered herbage. Near the coast of the Atlantic, the northern limit of this species is formed by the Sierra T.apalguen, in latitude 37° 30', where the plains rather suddenly be~ome greener and more humid. The limit certainly depends on this change, since ncar Meudoza, (33° 30'.) four degrees further northward, where the country is very sterile, this animal again occurs. Azara erroneously supposed that its northern range was only 35°. * Jt is not clear on what circumstances its limit southward between Ports Desire ami. St. Julian (about 'H~0 30'.) depends; for there is in that part no change in the features of the country. It is, moreover, a singular circumstance, that although the Cavy was not seen at Port St. Julian during our voyage, yet Capt. Wood, in lG70, speaks of them as being numerous there. What cause can have altered, in a wide, uninhabited, and rarely visited country, the range of an animal like this? "Azara states,·!· that the Cavy never excavates its own burrow, but uses that of the Bizcacha. Wherever this animal is present, without doubt this is true; but on the sandy plains of Bahia Blanca, where the Bizcacha is not found, the Spaniards maintain that the Cavy is its own workman. The same thing occurs with the little owls of the Pampas (Noclua cttnicula1'ia), which have been uescribed by travellers as standing like sentinels at the mouths of almost every buuow; for in Banda Oriental, owing to the absence of the Bizcacha, these birds are obliged to hollow out their own habitations. Azara says, also, that this Cavy, except when pressed by danger, docs not enter its burrow; on this point 1 must again differ from that high authority. At Bahia Blanca I have Tcpeatcdly seen two or three of these animals sitting on their haunches by the mouths of their holes, which they quietly entered as I passed by at a distance. Daily, in the neighbourhood of these spots, the Cavies were abundant: but dill'crently from most burrowing animals, they wander, commonly two or three together, to miles or leagues from their home; nor do I know whether they return at night. The Cavy feeds and Toams about by day; is shy and watchful; seldom squats after the manner of a hare; cannot run very fast, and, therefore, is frequently caught by a couple of dogs, even of mixed breed. Its manner of running more resembles that of a rabbit than of a hare. The Cavy generally produces two young ones at a birth, which arc brought forth within the burrow. The flesh, when cooked, is ·* Azara, Voyage dans l' Ameriq1JO l\feridionalc, vol. i. p. 318. t A;,ara, Quadrupeds of Paraguay. MAl\Il\IALIA. 91 very white; it is, however, rather t~steless and dry. between twenty and twenty-six pounds. '-D. Fnll grown animals weigh H YDROCli<ERUS CAPYDARA. llydrochoorus Capybara, Auct. "Tllese animals are common wherever there are Iaro-e rivers or lak par_t of the South American Continent which lies betwcez~the Or' ~· hovepr that a dzstance of nearly 1400 mil Tl Iuoco an t c lata, of the Pl . . . cs. wy are not generally supposed to extend south ata' but as there IS a Laguna Carpincho (the latter bcin the . . . name of the Capybara) high up the Salado, I presume they have gso t_PIOVI~Cial seen the · A d . < me 1mcs ueen Je.. zara oes not believe thev ever frequent S"lt wat .. b t I 1 · tl B f M · · u eJ ' u s wt one m le ay o onte Vtdeo; and several were seen by the officers of t1 B 1 ~n ~he Island of Guritti, off Maldonado, where the water is very nearly : 8 s=l~ga: ~ t e sea. The one I shot, ~t Mo~te Video, was an old female; it measured from ~:) of s?out to end of stump-lzke tall, 3 feet Bt inches, and in o-irth 3 feet 2 inches le W~tghed 98 pounds. ~opened the stomachs of a couple, 0 which I killed nea 1 : ~ lak~ at Maldonado, and found them distended with a thin ycllowish-crreen fluid 111 wh1eh not more than a trace of a vegetable fibre could be distino-uish:d. it is i' accordance with this fact, that a part of the resophao-us is so nar;ow as j ani · ~ formed l) y M . 0 1 . b • Jn I. wen, t 1at scarcely anythznbo- lar()'cr than a crow-quill can b sed d . TJ b e pas-own It. 1e shape of the dung of these animals is a short straio-ht cylinder rounded a t tl1 e ex t r·e m1· t·i es; wh en dn·e d and burnt, it affords a pleasabn t smell like' th~t. from ~edar wood. These an_ima]s do not burrow holes, but live amongst the thickets, OI .beds of rushes ncar nvers and lakes. At Maldonado they often may be seen durm.g the day, seated on the o-mssy plain in small gi'Oups of three and four, at the dtstance of a few yards fi·om the border of the lake, which they frequent. I must refer the reader for a few more details respecting their habits to my Journal of Researches.-D." ' |