80 ON THE GEOGRAPHY OP ANIMALS. 



to live in families, and seldom to quit the vicinity of 

 the place where they were born. 



(112.) The cavies, or agoutis, as they are some- 

 times called, are the hares of Brazil (Dasyprocta 111., 

 fig. 29.) : they have no tails, 

 and feed entirely upon vege- 

 tables ; shy in manners, and 

 swift of foot, they live only 

 in the forests and Catinga 

 woods. The cattle and 

 horses were first introduced 

 into the New World by the 

 early Spanish invaders, but they have now multiplied 

 into immense herds, and range over the Campos and 

 Pampas of the interior. Sheep are very scarce, and in 

 many provinces almost unknown* 



(113.) The general ornithological features of Brazil 

 have already been dwelt upon ; while, as regards the 

 number of species, this region may safely be pro- 

 nounced the richest in the world. Not more than one 

 fifth of the Brazilian empire, for instance, has been 

 explored; yet it has already furnished upwards of 

 500 different kinds of birds, and new ones are conti- 

 nually sent by travelling collectors to Europe, by which 

 the list is increased. We may, in some measure, ac- 

 count for this abundance, by the fact that fruits and 

 insects constitute the chief nourishment of this class ; 

 and that both are peculiarly abundant in countries 

 where vegetation is particularly luxuriant. 



(114.) The rapacious birds are very peculiar : large 

 black vultures (Cathartes 

 30 Jf* atratus,fig. 30., Sw. N. Z. ii. 

 p. 6.), fully equal in size to 

 our turkeys, are every where 

 seen, perfectly tame, sitting 

 on trees by the way side, and 

 ready to devour offal, or any 

 animal substance deprived of 

 life. Whether these vultures 

 are of the same species as the 



