138 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : NARRATIVE. 



at me, with nothing of fright in his countenance. Then slowly getting 

 upon his feet he came walking directly toward me with that measured and 

 firm tread characteristic of the family. The entire attitude and bearing 

 of the animal resembled those of a favorite cow or horse, as, lazily basking 

 in the barn-yard, it rises and advances slowly to lick the proffered hand of 

 its master. I permitted this exhibition of confidence to continue until he 

 had approached to within some ten or twelve feet of me, when I showed 

 my unworthiness by exchanging a charge of small for one of solid shot, 

 which, after retreating for a few paces, I discharged with such effect that 

 the beautiful animal fell lifeless almost at my feet, a victim of misplaced 

 confidence. 



After several days in this camp, passed in much the same manner as 

 that just described, sometimes varying my hunting expeditions with ex- 

 cursions after mosses, Hepaticae, flowering plants, or other botanical mate- 

 rials, while Mr. Peterson was busily engaged with the rodents, of which he 

 secured a splendid collection, including a fine series of a much larger 

 species of Ctenomys than any we had seen in the plains regions, we 

 moved some ten miles farther down the stream and camped by a little 

 brook at the edge of a forest, which covered the lower slopes of a con- 

 siderable mountain, lying to the north of the valley of the stream. Be- 

 tween our camp and the stream lay a broad stretch of meadow land 

 covered with an abundant growth of grass, which was the home of innu- 

 merable rodents. In the evening this meadow became the feeding ground 

 for great numbers of owls. By hanging a lantern on the limb of a tree 

 which stood in front of our tent, or building a small camp fire, these birds 

 were attracted by the light and frequently brought within range of our 

 fowling piece, so that we secured at this camp alone a very fine series of 

 no less than five species. Near the brook within the forest by which we 

 were camped, there lived a considerable variety of small rodents. It was 

 a part of my occupation each day to attend a number of traps placed at 

 frequent intervals and in what appeared to be particularly promising local- 

 ities along this little water course, in hopes of procuring in the interior of 

 the forest a number of species of rodents different from those which fre- 

 quented the meadow lands and edges of the woods. In this I was only 

 partially successful. While attending these traps one early morning, I 

 was suddenly attracted by a loud barking noise, emitted at regular inter- 

 vals, which came from the deep forest directly in front of me. The notes 



