ALLEN: mammalia: canid^. 163 



animal varies considerably in size, some skins being as large as a coyote." 

 Mr. Prichard had a more intimate acquaintance with this species, and 

 has presented the following interesting observations : 



"The study of the Cordillera wolf {Canis magellaniais) from the present 

 point of view is exceptionally interesting. To this animal man is practi- 

 cally unknown, and it manifested the most utter fearlessness, when brought 

 into contact with human beings, during our expedition. This wolf will 

 advance within five or six yards of a man within open daylight ; it will 

 walk over him when asleep in camp. They haunted our camps about 

 Lake Buenos Aires, lurking about all the night through and eating every- 

 thing that came within their reach ; then, instead of departing when day- 

 light came, they usually remained crouching near by, and put in an 

 appearance during breakfast-time with an absolute disregard or ignorance 

 of probable danger from the neighbourhood of man. 



"On the River Fenix one of these wolves came into Rosy Camp during 

 the night, stole a duck and a goose, and further gnawed my rifle-slings 

 within a few feet of where I was sleeping. We only discovered our loss 

 at dawn, and while we were still discussing it, I perceived the animal 

 itself lying under a bush close at hand calmly watching us. Deprived of 

 breakfast, I had no thought of mercy, and shot her with a Mauser. She 

 was an old female. That night her mate paid us a visit, and frightened 

 the horses, who seem to fear the large Cordillera wolf almost as much as 

 the puma. I was rather crippled at the time with an injury to my knee, 

 and was sitting by the fire. I happened to look up and caught sight of 

 the wolf standing within a few yards of me. He quietly returned my look 

 but made no movement to run away. In a moment or two I got up and 

 limped across to fetch my gun, the wolf watching me with interest, but 

 without the smallest sign of apprehension. As a matter of fact, he came 

 a few steps nearer to me, still gazing at me fixedly. He also joined the 

 majority in a very short space of time. We could not afford to have such 

 desperate thieves about our camp. At another place in the same neigh- 

 bourhood a wolf, coming in to investigate our camp, was attacked by my 

 big deerhound Tom. The wolf made no attempt to escape but met his 

 foe with a fearful bite, and in the end we had to go to Tom's assistance 

 before the wolf could be killed. 



" From these instances it will be seen that the Cordillera wolf has 

 absolutely no fear of man. The pampa fox shares this characteristic, but 



