1894.] MAMMALS OF URUGUAY. 311 



danger. They are said to be much wilder on the larger rivers, the 

 Rio Negro for instance, probably because they are less accustomed 

 to seeing any people except those who hunt them. No doubt the 

 protection they were afforded in the Santa Elena camp contributed 

 largely to their tameness there, but I always noticed they were 

 less tame on the Arroyo Grande than on its tributary the Sauce. 



When disturbed and rising to their feet the Carpinchos get upon 

 their fore legs first. The bair of the Carpincho is scanty, not much 

 more plentiful than some pigs' bristles, which it greatly resembles. 

 Their colour varies from dull brown to bright chestnut, and this 

 irrespective of age, or size, or season either, for I have noticed all 

 colours from spring to late autumn ; smaller animals are, however, 

 generally of the dull brown colour and vice versa. Their skins 

 tan into splendidly thick, soft leather, which is used for belts, 

 slippers, saddle-covers, &c. Like other thick-skinned animals, they 

 like to wallow in mud. They work out hollows in the ground in 

 which they wallow ; these are known as Carpincho baths. The 

 Carpincho does not go to ground, but lives on the banks of the 

 rivers in such cover as it can find. It is capable of remaining 

 under water and of proceeding for some distance under the surface ; 

 but when a herd has been disturbed at a laguna the members 

 probably "lie low" by putting just their noses above water under 

 the shelter of a bed of camelotes or other water-plants. 



I should imagine, from the size or its incisor teeth, that the 

 Carpincho would be capable of inflicting a most serious bite. One 

 day late in autumn, as my friend's hounds were drawing the monte 

 of the Arroyo Grande for a fox, we heard a tremendous " worry," 

 but before the whip could get to them (and on his small active 

 animal, really only a pony, he could, I believe, get anywhere) the pack 

 went on. A pointer (one of a famous short-tailed breed), belonging 

 to the estanciero at whose house we had met, came limping out of 

 the monte with a fearful gash and incised bite in his neck, bleeding 

 like a pig. It was said to be the work of a Lobo, but as I heard 

 the snort of a Carpincho at the beginning of the worry I strongly 

 suspect that it was the work of one of these beasts, of which there 

 were a good many in that part of the river. The Carpincho, 

 from its great weight and size, and thick, clumsy shape, would be a 

 very awkward beast for dogs to hold, whereas they would probably 

 master a Lobo if they had come to close quarters on land. 



The Carpincho's hind feet are furnished with a kind of hoof in 

 three divisions, each ending in a point ; and I should be very sorry 

 to get a fair kick from the hind leg of a living or dying animal. 



Upon this point I quote from Seiior Bollo, in whose book is 

 depicted with photographic accuracy a group of eight Carpinchos 

 in various hfe-like attitudes on the bank of a river. Senor Bollo 

 writes : — " If the dogs follow it, it flies while it can ; when it 

 is exhausted by the blood it has lost, it places itself among the 

 camelotes (a kind of water-plant) and defends itself from its 

 persecutors, giving them bites with its long incisors." 



"When thev take to the water they sometimes dive beneath the 



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