422 



THE ANIMALS OF PATAGONIA AND CHILE 



Colpeo. 



Very characteristic of the province is the colpeo (Canis magel- 

 lanicus), a large and handsome fox-like species, whose range 

 apparently extends from the damp beech-forests of Tierra del Fuego to the 

 deserts of northern Chile. 



The most interesting rodent of this province is the mara 

 (Dolichotis patagonica), an ally of the guinea-pig. Maras abound 

 on the vast plains of Patagonia, where they appear in parties of from four to 

 thirty or forty in number, running in single rile. They stand about 13 inches at 



Maras. 



■ 



SLENDER-BEAKED PARAQUET. 



the shoulder, and are a little under 3 feet in length ; the head is hare-like, and 

 the colour approximates to that of a hare or a roe. In length of leg maras 

 resemble deer, as they also do in the white patch on the rump, which is always 

 wider than the short stumpy tail, and in one race is edged with a black line above, 

 which is, however, absent in a second variety. The eyelashes of these rodents 

 are strongly developed to protect the eyes from the glare of the noonday sun, 

 the mara being a diurnal mammal which enjoys basking in the full sunshine. 

 A second and smaller species of mara (J), salinicola), which has no light rump 

 patch, inhabits the salt-tracts, or " salinas," of the Argentine. 



