ROUND AND ABOUT LAKE BUENOS AIRES 135 



THE HORSES RETRIEVED 



swollen to a great size, the wolf crept within ten yards and had a 

 look at me. I got up and limped across for my gun, but my 

 movements did not in the least seem to discompose his serenity. 

 He even advanced nearer, and showed not the smallest fear of me. 

 This quality of fearlessness is very marked in the Cordillera wolves, 



which possess it in a -_ 



greater degree than the 

 pampa foxes. On one 

 occasion when a wolf 

 thus came to investi- 

 gate our camp, my 

 large deerhound, Tom, 

 ran at him, and was 

 met with a devastating 

 bite. Indeed, I had to 

 go to Tom's help. In 

 the present instance I 

 took up the shot-gun 

 and gave the brute a charge of No. 4. He leaped straight upwards 

 into the air, howling and snarling, and sank down quite dead. 



These wolves kill young guanaco, and 1 have observed them 

 pursuing a huemul. They kill sheep when a flock is brought into 

 the neighbourhood of the Cordillera, generally remaining by their 

 quarry after daylight. I have never observed them farther 

 from the Cordillera than the northern shores of Lake Buenos 

 Aires. 



On November 24, Scrivenor went back to the base camp, as 

 he had toothache. Jones and I rode south across the Fenix. 

 Although we saw the track of a huemul in the sand we failed to 

 catch any glimpse of the animals themselves on that day, but shot 

 four bandurias, locally called by the Welshmen "land-ducks." This 

 is the black-faced ibis ( Theristicus caudatus). I was very eager 

 to secure a specimen of the huemul in his summer coat, and to 

 observe as much as possible of this beautiful deer, but no luck 

 attended us then in that particular. Finally, we went back to 

 Horsham Camp still unsuccessful. During our absence Burbury 

 had killed a large Cordillera wolf near Horsham Camp. 



