326 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



is discoverable. In such a case, the animal, goaded 

 by its instinctive fear, turns to the one spot that 

 horses avoid ; and although that spot has hitherto 

 been fearful to him, the old fear is forgotten in the 

 present and far more vivid one ; the vicinity of his 

 master's house represents a solitary place to him, 

 and he seeks it, just as the stricken deer seeks, the 

 interior of some close forest, oblivious for the time, 

 in its anxiety to escape from the herd, of the dangers 

 lurking in it, and which he formerly avoided. 



I have not set this explanation down merely 

 because it does credit to my friend's ingenuity, but 

 because it strikes me that it is the only alternative 

 explanation that can be given of the animal's action 

 in coming home to die. Another fact concerning 

 the ill-tamed and barbarously treated horses of the 

 pampas, which, to my mind, strengthens the view I 

 have taken, remains to be mentioned. It is not an 

 uncommon thing for one of these horses, after 

 escaping, saddled and bridled, and wandering about 

 for a night or night and day on the plains, to return 

 of its own accord to the house. It is clear that in a 

 case of this kind the animal comes home to seek 

 relief. I have known one horse that always had to 

 be hunted like a wild animal to be caught, and that 

 invariably after being saddled tried to break loose, 

 to return in this way to the gate after wandering 

 about, saddled and bridled, for over twenty hours in 

 uncomfortable freedom. 



The action of the riding-horse returning to a 

 master he is accustomed to fly from, as from an 

 enemy, to be released of saddle and bridle, is, no 

 doubt more intelligent than that of the dying horse 



