1832-3.] THE CAPYBARA, OR WATER-HOG. 47 



The order Rodentia is here very numerous in species : of mice 

 alone I obtained no less than eight kinds.* The largest gnawing 

 animal in the world, the Hydrochserus 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 Rodents 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 day- 

 time they either lie among the aquatic plants, or openly feed on the 

 turf plain.f When viewed at a distance, from their manner of 

 walking and colour they resemble pigs : but when seated on their 

 haunches, and attentively watching any object with one eye, they 

 reassume the appearance of their congeners, cavies and rabbits. 

 Both the front and side view of their head has quite a ludicrous 

 aspect, from the great depth of their jaw. These animals, at 

 Maldonado, were very tame ; by cautiously walking, I approached 

 within three yards of four old ones. This tameness may probably 

 bo accounted for, by the Jaguar having been banished for some 

 years, and by the Gaucho not thinking it worth his while to hunt 

 them. As I approached nearer and nearer they frequently made 

 their peculiar noise, which is a low abrupt grunt, not having much 

 actual sound, but rather arising from the sudden expulsion of air : 

 the only noise I know at all like it, is the first hoarse bark of a 

 large dog. Having watched the four from almost within arm's 

 length (and they me) for several minutes, they rushed into the 

 water at full gallop with the greatest impetuosity, and emitted at 

 the same time their bark. After diving a short distance they came 

 again to the surface, but only just showed the upper part of their 



* In South America I collected altogether twenty-seven species 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 Zoological Society. I must be 

 allowed to take this opportunity of returning 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. 



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

 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 

 rcsophagus 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 ou which it feeds. 



