T 10 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



first half of this century, when cattle-breeding 

 began to be profitable, and wool was not worth the 

 trouble of shearing, and the gaucho workman 

 would not eat mutton when beef was to be had, 

 some of the estancieros on the southern pampas 

 determined to get rid of their sheep, which were of 

 no value to them ; and many flocks were driven a 

 distance out and lost in the wilds. Out of many 

 thousands thus turned loose to shift for themselves, 

 not one pair survived to propagate a new race of 

 feral sheep ; in a short time pumas, wild dogs, and 

 other beasts of prey, had destroyed them all. The 

 sterling qualities of the pampa sheep had their 

 value in other times ; at present the improved kinds 

 are alone considered worth having, and the original 

 sheep of the country is now rapidly disappearing, 

 though still found in remote and poor districts, 

 especially in the province of Cordova ; and probably 

 before long it will become extinct, together with 

 the curious pug-nosed cow of the pampas. 



I have had frequent opportunities of observing 

 the young, from one to three days old, of the 

 Cervus campestris the common deer of the pampas, 

 and the perfection of its instincts at that tender age 

 seem very wonderful in a ruminant. When the 

 doe with fawn is approached by a horseman, even 

 when accompanied with clogs, she stands perfectly 

 motionless, gazing fixedly at the enemy, the fawn 

 motionless at her side ; and suddenly, as if at a 

 preconcerted signal, the fawn rushes directly away 

 from her at its utmost speed ; and going to a dis- 

 tance of six hundred to a thousand yards conceals 



