FAUNA OF ARGENTINA 401 



ness, or come near him when lie lies sleeping or disabled, and even occasionally 

 defend him from its enemy the jaguar. We know that certain sounds, colours, 

 or smells, which are not particularly noticed by most animals, produce an extra- 

 ordinary effect on some species ; and it is possible to believe, I think, that the 

 human form or countenance, or the odour of the human body, may also have the 

 effect on the puma of suspending its predatory instincts, and inspiring it with a 

 gentleness towards man, which we are only accustomed to see in our domestic car- 

 nivores, or in feral animals towards those of their own species. 



"Wolves, when pressed with hunger, will sometimes devour a fellow- wolf ; 

 as a rule, however, rapacious animals will starve to death rather than prey on one 

 of their own kind ; nor is it a common thing for them to attack other species 

 possessing instincts similar to their own. The puma, we have seen, violently attacks 

 other large carnivores, not to feed on them, but merely to satisfy its ani- 

 mosity ; and, while respecting man, it is, within the tropics, a great hunter and 

 eater of monkeys, which of all animals most resemble man. We can only con- 

 clude with Humboldt that there is something mysterious in the hatreds and affec- 

 tions of animals." * 



Neither the tapir nor the peccary of the hot, moist forest regions ever ranges 

 farther south than the provinces of Corrientes and Santiago del Estero. The 

 sloth also is found no farther south than Chaco, while the ant-eater, very com- 

 mon in the northern solitudes, is rare in the Argentine provinces. 



The tatu (armadillo) family is represented by at least eight species, including 

 the gigantic tatu, now rare in the Toba territory north of the Kio Bermejo, the 

 dwarfish quirgxincho of the province of Mendoza, no bigger than a mole, and the 

 hairy armadillo {dasypus villosus), which has now acquired protective nocturnal 

 habits. This species is specially remarkable for its versatility and power of 

 adaptation to changing environments. Its habits are constantly changing to suit 

 its new conditions of life, so that it remains diurnal in districts where its car- 

 nivorous enemies are nocturnal, and becomes nocturnal in the presence of its 

 persecutor, man. In this way the hairj' armadillo is able to hold its ground, and 

 even become more abundant, in regions occupied in increasing numbers by human 

 settlements. 



But the most characteristic animal of the pampas is the viscacha {lagostomus 

 trkhodacti/lm), which in many respects recalls the prairie dog or North America, 

 and like it builds itself underground cities in the sandy soil. Here also it is 

 found in friendly association with the owl and other nocturnal birds, which are 

 often seen mounting guard at the mouth of the burrows. These burrows are also 

 frequented by vipers, adders, and poisonous spiders, and travellers crossing 

 districts occupied by colonies of viscachas never fail to provide themselves wdth 

 a clove of garlic, believed by all Argentines to be an infallible protection against 

 the attacks of all such noxious vermin. Like the bower-bird, the viscacha loves 

 to decorate the approaches to its dwelling with all kinds of objects, shreds of 



* W. H. Hudson. Tlu Naturalist in La Plata, p. 49. 



