IS32-3-1 PECULIARITIES GF DEER. 35 



flourishing only in a climate rendered humid by rain-bearing winds, 

 has a strongly marked exception in the case of the Falkland Islands. 

 These islands, situated in the same latitude with Tierra del Fuego and 

 only between two and three hundred miles distant from it, having a 

 nearly similar climate, with a geological formation almost identical, 

 with favourable situations and the same kind of peaty soil, yet can 

 boast of few plants deserving even the title of bushes ; whilst in Tierra 

 del Fuego it is impossible to find an acre of land not covered by the 

 densest forest. In this case, both the direction of the heavy gales of 

 wind and of the currents of the sea are favourable to the transport of 

 seeds from Tierra del Fuego, as is shown by the canoes and trunks 

 of trees drifted from that country, and frequently thrown on the shores 

 of the Western Falkland. Hence perhaps it is, that there are many 

 plants in common to the two countries ; but with respect to the trees 

 of Tierra del Fuego, even attempts made to transplant them have 

 failed. 



During our stay at Maldonado I collected several quadrupeds, eighty 

 kinds of birds, and many reptiles, including nine species of snakes. 

 Of the indigenous mammalia, the only one now left of any size, which 

 is common, is the Cervus campestris. This deer is exceedingly abundant, 

 often in small herds, throughout the countries bordering the Plata and 

 in Northern Patagonia. If a person crawling close along the ground 

 slowly advances towards a herd; the deer frequently, out of curiosity, 

 approach to reconnoitre him. I have by this means killed, from one 

 spot, three out of the same herd. Although so tame and inquisitive, 

 yet when approached on horseback, they are exceedingly wary. In 

 this country nobody goes on foot, and the deer knows man as its enemy 

 only when he is mounted and armed with the bolas. At Bahia Blanca, 

 a recent establishment in Northern Patagonia, I was surprised to find 

 how little the deer cared for the noise of a gun : one day I fired tea 

 times from within eighty yards at one animal ; and it was much more 

 startled at the ball cutting up the ground than at the report of the rifle. 

 My powder being exhausted, I was obliged to get up (to my shame as 

 u sportsman be it spoken, though well able to kill birds on the wing) 

 and halloo till the deer ran away. 



The most curious fact with respect to this animal, is the over- 

 poweringly strong and offensive odour which proceeds from the buck. 

 It is quite indescribable : several times whilst skinning the specimen 

 which is now mounted at the Zoological Museum, I was almost over- 

 come by nausea. I tied up the skin in a silk pocket-handkerchief, and 

 so carried it home : this handkerchief, after being well washed, I 

 continually used, and it was of course as repeatedly washed ; yet every 

 time, for the space of one year and seven months, when first unfolded, 

 I distinctly perceived the odour. This appears an astonishing instance 

 of the permanence of some matter, which nevertheless in its nature must 

 be most subtile and volatile. Frequently, when passing at the distance 

 of half a mile to leeward of a herd, I have perceived the whole air 

 tainted with the effluvium. I believe the smell from the buck is most 

 powerful at the period when its horns are perfect, or free from the 



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