58 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : NARRATIVE. 



and certain species of gulls, render to the inhabitants of Patagonia a ser- 

 vice of inestimable value in maintaining the present most excellent sani- 

 tary conditions. 



Our trail led past the settlement of the estancia mentioned and for a short 

 distance up the same canon we had followed on our road to the Coy 

 River, then diverged, leading up the course of a small lateral canon which 

 entered from the east, finally emerging upon the broad and perfectly level 

 plain which, with an elevation of four hundred and fifty feet, forms the 

 summit of the cliffs extending along the river front. The surface of 

 shingle was partially covered with soil, which gave sustenance to short 

 but highly nutritious grasses. Scattered over the plain at intervals were 

 to be seen flocks of sheep quietly grazing, in evident satisfaction with 

 their surroundings, while here and there a solitary guanaco might be seen 

 engaged in the same occupation and, attracted by the unfamiliar appear- 

 ance of our equipage, would raise to its full height his long neck, which, 

 after intently surveying us for an instant, he would throw into a most 

 graceful curve, at the same time uttering a series of sharp, shrill 

 whinnies, intended apparently as a salutation, very similar in tone and 

 duration to those I have frequently heard given forth by a horse, when rid- 

 ing by at a little distance. After repeating this noise a number of times 

 he would resume feeding and become apparently perfectly oblivious of, or 

 indifferent to our presence. Occasionally a specimen of Canis asarce, 

 a small gray fox or dog, might be seen dashing madly across the plains, 

 if by chance we came so near as to frighten him from the clump of 

 mata verde or other shelter behind which he had lain concealed. This 

 is withal a most beautiful, intelligent, and amusing carnivore, but at the 

 same time, as we were to learn later, both destructive and mischievous. 

 Scattered at intervals over the plain were small thickets of calafate bushes, 

 the trunks seldom more than an inch and a half in diameter and crowded 

 closely together. These usually attained a height of six or seven feet, 

 and the thick branches at the top were the favorite nesting places for the 

 carrancha, which constructs its nests of great quantities of sticks and stems. 

 I have frequently seen several bushels of such materials brought together 

 in a single nest, while the depth of the depression for the latter is out of 

 all proportion to the great mass of material employed in its construction 

 and only just sufficient to insure the eggs and young from rolling out and 

 falling to the ground. 



