4 i4 UNGULATES. 



shun glaciers and snow-fields. In the hot season, on the other hand, they descend 

 into the higher valleys. The reason of this reversal of the usual plan of migration 

 appears to be that in the Cordillera the vegetation on the higher ridges is completely 

 withered up by the heat of the dry summer season, and that such herbage as 

 remains is only to be found in the valleys, where it is nourished by springs or 

 swamps. Vicunias feed all day, and it is seldom that a flock is seen lying down. 

 During the pairing-season the males fight with great fierceness for the supremacy 

 of the flocks, each of which comprises one male accompanied by from six to fifteen 

 females. The male always remains a few paces behind the flock, and gives notice 

 of any approaching danger by uttering a shrill whistle, at the same time 

 rapidly advancing; the flock then collects, and takes to immediate flight in a 

 swift gallop, the male bringing up the rear, and often stopping to observe the foe. 



In the month of February the females give birth to a single fawn, which as 

 soon as it comes into the world is endowed with remarkable speed and endurance. 

 The young males remain with their dams until full grown, when they are expelled 

 from the flock by the united force of females. These young males unite together 

 in separate flocks of from twenty to thirty head ; and as such flocks have no 

 special guardian, but all the members are constantly on the alert, they are exceed- 

 ingly difficult to approach. During the pairing-season incessant fights take place 

 among these male flocks, and the animals then utter a peculiar neighing sort of cry 

 which can be heard at a great distance. 



The Indians hunt vicunias by forming a circular enclosure of 

 stakes connected by cords, with a diameter of about half a mile, and 

 an entrance of some couple of hundred feet in width. The cords connecting the 

 stakes are hung with bright-coloured pieces of cloth, which flutter in the wind and 

 prevent the animals from trying to break through. When the enclosure is ready, 

 the hunters make a wide circuit on the mountains, and drive in all the flocks of 

 vicunias there may be in the neighbourhood ; the animals being despatched by the 

 bolas — a weapon consisting of two large balls connected by a string, which is 

 whirled round the hunter's head and then hurled with unerring aim at his victim. 

 The flesh is divided among the Indians, but the skins belong to the priests. The 

 wool, although small in quantity, is fine and of excellent quality ; and in 1826 a law 

 was made that the vicunias should be caught and shorn, instead of killed, but the 

 wildness of the animals rendered this impracticable. In the time of the Incas vicunia- 

 hunts, in which as many as thirty thousand men took part, were organised upon a 

 large scale. An area of some twenty miles would be completely surrounded, and 

 every living thing driven in ; and it is said that at times as many as forty thousand 

 head of game, including bears, pumas, foxes, deer, vicunias, and guanacos, would be 

 thus surrounded. Such a hunt would last for a week, during which many hundred 

 head of game would be killed, Tschudi mentioning that in a hunt which he joined, 

 upwards of one hundred and twenty-two vicunias were slaughtered. 



The guanaco (L. guanacus) is a rather larger and heavier-built 



vrUcLHclCO. . m , 



animal than the vicunia, with a longer head, larger skull, and distinct 

 naked patches on the knees of the hind-legs. A full-grown male will measure 4 

 feet in height at the shoulder, and from 7 to 8 feet in length. The thick and 

 woolly hair is of a pale reddish colour, longest and palest on the under-parts. The 



