1832-3.] INQUISITIVE DEER. 59 



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 trans- 

 port 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 horse- 

 back, 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 ten times from within eighty 

 yards at one animal ; arid 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 a 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 overpoweringly 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 overcome 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 



