258 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



The cavy will often lead the hounds a good chase, especially 

 where the ground is broken, in such places frequently making its 



escape. 



After being frightened it very soon makes its reappearance, 

 and when it actually takes to flight it rarely goes more than a 

 hundred yards before it turns to see whether it is an object of 

 pursuit. This is only the case when man alone is the pursuer ; 

 when dogs are present there is no time to be lost in speculation of 

 any kind. 



No. 6. Armadillo {Dasypus minutus). 



{Picky of the Argentines and Chilians ; Ano of the 

 Tehuelches.) 



This animal is never found south of the River Santa Cruz. 

 During the four months I spent south of that river I did not see 

 one, but when for three days we crossed to the north bank we 

 met with four and killed one, as 1 have before mentioned. Dasypus 

 minutus is very common in the vicinity of Bahia Camerones. I 

 saw no specimen in the forests of the Andes, but near Lake Buenos 

 Aires and Lake Viedma we found them about the foothills. 



No. 7. The Grey or Pampa Fox ; Zorro of the Argentines ; 

 Paltn of the Tehuelches. 



To the east of the Andes, the pampa fox is to be met with 

 practically everywhere. There are two varieties of foxes upon 

 the pampa. The common pampa variety is a most inveterate 

 thief, and causes endless trouble to travellers by eating all and 

 anything that the wind may blow down from the bushes, upon 

 which one's belongings are generally himg by way of guarding 

 against their depredations. If a horse is sogaed out .with a 

 cabresto of hide, the foxes will very often gnaw through the 

 cabrcsto and set the horse free. This trick has cost the life of 

 more than one Gaucho, who, travelling alone upon the pampa, in 

 some district hundreds of miles away from human habitations, 

 has been left quite helpless without his horse, unable to use his 

 tolas with effect on foot, and so has starved to death. 



In my experience the range of the grey fox seems to cease at 

 the foothills of the Cordillera, where the Magellan v^oM {Canis magel- 

 lanicus) is to be found. Of course, in making this statement I am 



