OCR Text |
Show 104 BAHIA BLANCA. Aug. 1833. noceroses and elephants over the J( arros of Southern Africa. After our long digression, if we re~urn t? the case of the fossil animals at Bahia Blanca, there IS a difficulty from our not knowing on what food the gre~t Ede~tata probably lived. If on insects and larvre, hke their neare~t representatives the armadilloes and anteaters, there IS an end to all conjecture. But as vegetation is the first source of life in every part of the world, I think we rr:ay safely conclude that the country around Bahia Blanca, With a very little increase of fertility, would support large ani~als. The plains of the Rio Negro, thickly scattered over wtth thorny bushes I do not doubt would supply sufficient food equally well with the K arros of Africa. As there is e·vidence of a physical change to a small amount, so rna~ we allow it to ~e probable that the productiveness of the sml has decreased m an equally small degree. With this concession. I ap~reh~nd every difficulty is removed. On the other hand, If we Imagme a luxuriant vegetation to be necessary for the support of these animals, we become involved in a series of contra-dictions and improbabilities. . As the notices of the remains of several quadrupeds, which I discovered in South America, are scattered in different parts of this volume, I will here give a catalogue of them. Mter having enlarged on the diminutive size of the present races, it may be of interest to see that formerly a very different order of things prevailed. First, the megatherium, and the four or five other large edentata, already alluded to; 6th, an immense mastodon, which must have abounded over the whole country ; 7th, the horse (I do not now refer to the broken tooth at Bahia Blanca, but to more certain evidence); 8th, the toxodon, an extraordinary animal as large as a hippopotamus ; 9th, a fragment of the head of an animal larger than a horse, and of a very singular character; 10th, 11th, and 12th, parts of rodents- one of considerable size ; lastly, a llama or guarwco, fully as large as the camel. All these animals coexisted during an epoch Aug. 1833. HABITS OF OSTRICH. 105 whic~, geologically. speaking is so recent, that it may be COnsidered as only JUSt gone by. rfhese remains have been .p resented to the College of Surgeons' where they are now m the hands of those best qualified to appreciate whatever value they may possess. I wi? now .give ~n account of the habits of some of the mo~e mterestmg birds, which are common on these wild plam. s; and .f irst. of the Struth,i o Rhea' or S out h A men·c an ostrich. This bird is .well known to abound over the plains of Northern Patagoma, and the united provinces of La Pl.a ta. . It has not crossed the Cordillera·' but I h ave seen I· t Withm the first range of mountains on the U spallata plain, elevated between six and seven thousand ceet Th d' • l' • e or t-nary habits of the ostrich are familiar to every one. They feed. on vegetable matter; such as roots and grass; but at Bahia Blanca, I have repeatedly seen three or four come down at low water to the extensive mud-banks which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos say, of catchinO' small fis~. Although the ostrich in its habits is so shy, wa;'y, and solitary, and although so fleet in its pace it falls a p · h . ' rey, Wit out much difficulty, to the Indian or Gaucho armed with ·t heb bolas. When several horsemen appear in a sem' · 1 lCI.rC e, It ecomes confounded, and does not know which way to escape. They generally prefer running against the wind . yet at the ~rst start they expand their wings, and like a vessei make all sail. On one fine hot day I saw several ostriches enter a bed of tall rushes, where they squatted concealed till quite clos~ly approached. It is not generally known tha; ostriches readily take to the water. Mr. King informs me that at the Bay of San Bias, and at Port Valdes in PataO'onia he saw these birds swimming several times from isl:nd t~ island They ran into the water both when driven down to a point. a~d likewise of their own accord when not frightened : th; ~Istance cr~ssed was about 200 yards. When swimming, very httle of thmr bodies appear above water, and their necks are exten.ded a little forward: their progress is slow. On two occaswns, 1 saw some ostriches swimming across the Santa |