36 HUNTING CAMPS. 



than a couple of specimens are attainable for purposes 

 of study, and a very special interest on that account 

 pertained to the pursuit of these deer. 



Owing to the fact that the heads available for study 

 of the guemal carried but two points on each horn, it 

 has been supposed that the single fork of the antlers 

 was characteristic of this species, but such is not the 

 case. Of the specimens which I obtained, photographs 

 of some of which are reproduced, two carry an extra 

 point. In one pair of antlers no less than two extra 

 points are more than indicated, and as these seemed to 

 belong to a very old buck, I am led to believe this 

 animal, when his horns were at their best, carried six 

 developed points, and I have heard on good evidence of 

 an eight-point head. 



I was unable to gather any reliable information as to 

 when the guemal drop their horns, and I can only give 

 the facts of my own observations that the horns are 

 in velvet in November ; that they become clear of it, 

 especially in the case of old bucks, early in December ; 

 and that as late as the 12th of May the bucks are still 

 carrying their antlers. 



One feature that can hardly fail to strike any traveller 

 about the Andean foothills, as indeed upon the pampas 

 and throughout the whole of Patagonia, is the extra- 

 ordinary number of birds and animals of prey that 

 exist in the country. All about the lakes and in the 

 edges of the forest uncounted pumas and Magellan 

 wolves, as well as myriads no other word describes 

 it of hoary dogs, have their abode and seek their 

 sustenance. The air, too, furnishes a corresponding 

 contingent of flesh and carrion eaters, coranchos, 

 chimangos, and condors. Short of the Arctic circle, 



