Letters 0/ Mr. J. Graham Kerr. 363 



are cropping the turf in front of their burrows towards dusk, 

 they retire close to the mouth of their burrows, and there sit 

 up on their haunches, after the manner of kangaroos, watching 

 the intruder and giving vent to various uncouth sounds of 

 indignation. These sounds are of a most uncanny nature. 

 A night or two after my arrival I happened to be walking 

 over the turf when it was nearly quite dark, when suddenly 

 I put my foot into a hole, and at once a chorus of the most 

 weird and unearthly groans and hisses arose from the ground 

 all around me. I had never heard of the vocal powers of the 

 biscachas, and I felt quite startled. I believe it is the males 

 chiefly who give vent to these sounds. 



The coypu or nutria ("otter"!!), as it is ridiculously 

 termed in Spanish, is fairly abundant by the edges of the 

 larger lagunas. In habits and appearance it is simply an 

 enormous water-rat. 



The conejo is a little cavy, about eight inches in length, 

 of a greenish-brown colour, and is very abundant amongst 

 the pajas by the side of the water. 



Carnivora are well represented here, being in number of 

 species the predominant order of mammals. At the head of 

 those I have met with stands the puma [Fells conculor), 

 which is, however, not at all common. A young male, mea- 

 suring 6 feet 6 inches in total length, was killed on the 

 neighbouring estaucia of San Carlos during my stay, but I 

 have not been fortunate enough to come across any myself. 

 The commonest of the cats is the " gato raontes," something 

 like a miniature leopard, but only about the size of the wild 

 cat at home (Felis geofftoyi). This tiger-cat is quite com- 

 mon, and I have shot several. There is also another smaller 

 cat occurring in the neighbourhood, but it is less common 

 (F. jjasserum) . The most abundant of the carnivora, how- 

 ever, is a species of skunk (Mephitis p at agonic a) , about 

 23 inches in length, with beautiful silky dark-brown coat, 

 with a white longitudinal line along each side of the body 

 and a bushy white tail. He is a beautiful little animal, and 

 about sundown he may be seen taking his leisurely evening 

 stroll, with his white tail hoisted up iu the air as a signal to 



