Guanaco 377 



Dixie in Across Patagonia (1880); and Mr. W. H. Hudson in The 

 Naturalist in La Plata (1892). Unfortunately neither the guanaco nor 

 the vicugna possess anything in the way of trophies to attract the sports- 

 man, so that the main inducement to their pursuit is the excitement of 

 the chase itselt. It should, however, be added that the skins of both 

 species make beautiful rugs, and that guanaco-meat is of excellent quality; 

 a favourite honnc-houc/ie, accordingly to Lady Florence Dixie, being the 

 fat behind the eye. 



Guanaco are diurnal and gregarious, usually found in small troops, but 

 on the stony plateaux of the southern districts of Patagonia occasionally 

 collecting in herds, whose members may be numbered by hundreds. Barren 

 to all appearance as are the districts where these animals are most 

 numerous, yet guanaco always manage to obtain sufficient food, and are 

 almost invariably in good condition. They are excessively shy and wary, 

 and at the alarm-scream of the sentinel which is always posted at the feeding- 

 grounds the whole herd dashes off at headlong speed. Writing of the 

 first guanaco killed by her party, after a long chase. Lady Florence Dixie 

 makes the following observations : — " Looking at his frame, his long, 

 powerful legs, his deep chest, and body as fine-drawn almost as a grey- 

 hound's, we no longer wondered that guanacos run as swiftly as they do. 

 Indeed, this one would have laughed at us had he not been closed in as 

 he was." 



They are, moreover, quite as inquisitive and full of curiosity as deer, 

 and will, according to Mr. Hudson, not only approach a single horseman to 

 inspect him, but will sometimes follow him for miles. Darwin bears 

 witness also to their excitable disposition and the strange antics in which 

 they indulge at times, neighing and squealing when approached, and 

 prancing and curvetting in an almost comical fashion. On one occasion a 

 guanaco was seen chasing a fox, apparently in mere sport. 



A very remarkable trait displayed by guanaco in the south of Patagonia 



3 L- 



