THE CAPYBARA OR WATER-IIOG. G3 



world, the Hydrochcerus capybara (the water-hog), 

 is here also common. One which I shot at Monte 

 Video weighed ninety-eight pounds : its length, 

 from the end of the snout to the stump-like tail, 

 was three feet two inches, and its girth three feet 

 eight. These great llodents occasionally frequent 

 the islands in the mouth of the Plata, where the 

 water is quite salt, but are far more abundant on 

 the borders of fresh-water lakes and rivers. Near 

 Maldonado three or four generally live together. 

 In the daytime they either lie among the aquatic 

 plants, or openly feed on the turf plain.* When 

 viewed at a distance, from their manner of walk- 

 ing and colour they resemble pigs ; but when 

 seated on their haunches, and attentively watching 

 any object with one eye, they reassume the ap- 

 pearance of their congeners, cavies and rabbits. 

 Both the fi-ont and side view of their head has 

 quite a ludicrous aspect, from the great depth of 

 their jaw. These animals, at Blaldonado, were 

 very tame ; by cautiously walking, I approached 

 within three yards of four old ones. This tame- 

 ness may probably be accounted for by the Jaguar 

 having been banished for some years, and by the 

 Gauche not thinking it worth his while to hunt 

 them. As I approached nearer and nearer, they 



of mice ; and thirteen more are known from the works of Azara 

 and other authors. Those collected by myself have been named 

 and described by Mr. Waterhouse at the meetings of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society. I must be allowed to take this opportunity of re- 

 turning my cordial thanks to Mr. Waterhouse, and to the other 

 gentlemen attached to that Society, for their kind and most liberal 

 assistance on all occasions. 



* In the stomach and duodenum of a capybara which I opened, 

 1 found a very large quantity of a thin yellowish fluid, in which 

 scarcely a fibre could be distinguished. Mr. Owen informs me 

 that a part of the oesophagus is so constructed that nothing much 

 larger than a crowquill can be passed down. Certainly the broad 

 teeth and strong jaws of this animal are well fitted to grind into 

 pulp the aquatic plants en which it feeds. "^ 



