CHAPTER XVIII* 



THE LARGER MAMMALS OF PATAGONIA 



Little known of natural history of Patagonia— Distribution of principal 

 mammals — Huemul— Range — Habits — Horns — Not timid in remote districts — 

 Curiosity — Common puma — Immense numbers — Destructive habits — Method 

 of attack — Silent — Expert in hiding lair — Pearson's puma — Points of difference 

 — Characteristics — Guanaco — Wide range — Large herds — Quantities of bones 

 at drinking-places — Hard winters — Habits — Lack of affection for young — Pata- 

 gonian cavy — Arbitrary limit of range — Weight — Habits — Armadillo. 



In commencing this chapter I may remark that, as far as EngUsh 

 pubHcations are concerned, I have found nothing bearing on the 

 zoology of South-eastern Patagonia of later date than the book of 

 Captain Musters, published in i87i,and no work whatever dealing 

 with the mammals of the Cordillera. 



Captain Musters traversed the country with a tribe of Tehuelche 

 Indians, and only at one point touched the Cordillera. His book 

 is essentially a book treating of these interesting Indians, and he 

 does little more than refer now and then to the zoology of the land 

 through which he passed. 



Every one is, of course, familiar wiih the volumes to which the 

 voyages of the Adventure and the Beagle gave rise, but it must 

 be remembered that the most westerly point attained by the boat- 

 party from the Beagle, which ascended the Santa Cruz River, was 

 Mystery Plain. In no English work whatever has any mention 

 been made of the huemul {Xenelapkus bisulms), a deer peculiar to 

 the Southern Cordillera, nor have we any account of the habits of 

 the puma, or, I should rather say, the pumas of Patagonia. 

 During the time we spent in Patagonia we covered a considerable 

 portion of the country, and passed some five or six months within 



'■■- This chapter embodies a paper read before the Zoological Society of London on 

 April 15, 1902, with some additional details. 



