NATURE 



553 



THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1892. 



A REMARKABLE BOOK ON THE HABITS 

 OF ANIMALS. 



The Naturalist in La Plata. By W, H. Hudson, 

 C.Z.M.S. With Illustrations. (London : Chapman 

 and Hall, Ltd., 1892.) 



THIS volume deserved a more distinctive title, since 

 it differs widely from the several works of other 

 naturalists with which it may be classed judging from 

 the title-page alone. It is, in fact, so far as the present 

 writer knows, altogether unique among books on natural 

 history. It is to be hoped that its success will be propor- 

 tional to its merits, and that it will form the first of a 

 series of volumes, by means of which residents in the 

 various extra- European countries will make known to us 

 the habits of the animals which surround them. What 

 renders this work of such extreme value and interest is, 

 that it is not written by a traveller or a mere temporary 

 resident, but by one born in the country, to whom its 

 various tribes of beasts, birds, and insects have been 

 familiar from childhood ; who is imbued with love and 

 admiration for every form of life ; and who for twenty 

 years has observed carefully and recorded accurately 

 everything of interest in the life-histories of the various 

 species with which he has become acquainted. When 

 we add to this the fact that the writer of this volume is 

 well acquainted with the literature, both old and new, 

 bearing upon his subject ; that he groups his facts and 

 observations so as to throw light on obscure problems, 

 and often adduces evidence calculated to decide them ; 

 and, in addition to all this, that the book is written in an 

 earnest spirit and in a clear and delightful style, it be- 

 comes evident that not all who attempt to follow in his 

 steps can hope to equal their forerunner. 



As every chapter of the book contains new and in- 

 teresting matter, it is difficult to convey an adequate idea 

 of it by partial extracts or by an enumeration of its chief 

 topics ; but the attempt must be made. The first chapter 

 gives us a general sketch of the " Desert Pampas" and 

 its forms of animal life. The viscacha, the coypu, and the 

 tucu-tucu— three strange rodents— are brought vividly 

 before us by a description of some of their more prominent 

 habits ; the edentate armadilloes appear in a new light, 

 since one of them, the hairy armadillo, is shown to be a 

 dominant species holding its own against enemies of 

 higher type, so omnivorous that it can live on almost 

 everything from grass to flesh, the latter either found 

 dead and in all stages of decay or captured by means of 

 its own strategy. It is so agile that it catches mice, so 

 strong and well armed that it kills poisonous snakes, and 

 having killed them cuts them in pieces and swallows as 

 much as it needs. Mr. Hudson adds : — 



" It is much hunted for its flesh, dogs being trained for 

 the purpose ; yet it actually becomes more abundant as 

 population increases in any district ; and, if versatility in 

 habits or adaptiveness can be taken as a measure of in- 

 telligence, this poor armadillo, a survival of the past, so 

 old on the earth as to have existed contemporaneously 

 with the giant glyptodon, is the superior of the large- 

 brained cats and canines." 



NO. II 72, VOL. 45] 



Equally extraordinary are the still lower opossums, one 

 of which is semi-aquatic and apparently adapted to its 

 surroundings, while the other species ^Didelphys azarce) 

 is in every way adapted to an arboreal life, yet it is every- 

 where found in this level treeless district, which leads to 

 one of our author's suggestive remarks : — 



" For how many thousands of years has this marsupia 

 been a dweller on the plain, all its best faculties unexer- 

 cised, its beautiful grasping hands pressed to the ground, 

 and its prehensile tail dragged like an idle rope behind 

 it ! Yet, if one is brought to a tree, it will take to it as 

 readily as a duck to water, or an armadillo to earth, 

 climbing up the trunk and about the branches with a 

 monkey-like agility. How reluctant Nature seems in 

 some cases to undo her own work ! How long she will 

 allow a specialized organ, with the correlated mstinct, to 

 rest without use, yet ready to flash forth on the instant, 

 bright and keen-edged, as in the ancient days of strife, 

 ages past, before peace came to dwell on earth ! " 



But we must passon from this mere preliminary chapter to 

 more solid matter, only noting that we have a vivid sketch 

 of the great rhea or American ostrich, of the flamingo, 

 the swans, and the noble crested screamer, all of which 

 are being exterminated by increasing population and im- 

 proved weapons ; and this leads to a noble protest against 

 this extermination, of which we can only quote the con- 

 cluding words : — 



" Only when this sporting rage has spent itself, when 

 there are no longer any animals of the larger kinds re- 

 maining, the loss we are now inflicting on this our heritage, 

 in which we have a life-interest only, will be rightly ap- 

 preciated. It is hardly to be supposed or hoped that 

 posterity will feel satisfied with our monographs of extinct 

 speciesj and the few crumbling bones and faded feathers 

 which may possibly survive half-a-dozen centuries in some 

 j happily-placed Museum. On the contrary, such dreary 

 mementoes will only serve to remind them of their loss ; 

 and if they remember us at all, it will only be to hate 

 our memory, and our age— this enlightened, scientific, 

 humanitarian age, which should have for its motto, ' Let 

 us slay all noble and beautiful things, for to-morrow we 

 die.'" 



A chapter devoted to the puma is full of new and in- 

 teresting matter. This animal ranges from British 

 Columbia to the Straits of Magellan, but throughout this 

 vast region there seems to be no authentic record of its 

 ever attacking men except in self-defence. This has led 

 to its being thought to be cowardly, whereas it is one of 

 the bravest of the feline race, since it constantly attacks 

 and conquers the jaguar whenever the two inhabit the 

 same district, while in North California it is the enemy 

 of the grizzly bear, and is again always the victor. In 

 the Pampas, where it is common, the fact that it never 

 attacks man, in however helpless a position he may be, is 

 so well known, that the Gaucho confidently sleeps on the 

 ground, although he knows that pumas are close by ; 

 while it is said that a child may sleep on the plain un- 

 protected in equal security. Many curious anecdotes 

 are given in illustration of this remarkable trait of so 

 powerful and, as regards all other large Mammalia, blood- 

 thirsty a creature. And the curious thing is that it seems 

 to be no dread or dislike of man that leads to the pecu- 

 liarity, but rather some strange feeling of affection, or 

 sense of pleasure in man's vicinity, shown in many curious 

 ways, which has led the Pampas-dwelling Gauchos to call 

 it " the friend of man." 



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