374 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and pampas of La Plata, devoting all his energies to an investi- 

 gation of the fauna of that country ; not as a collector so much 

 as a patient and intelligent observer of the life habits of the 

 many curious animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, which 

 came under his notice. The information which he has collected 

 on this subject in the volume now before us is not only of great 

 interest to naturalists, but, being founded on original observation, 

 is extremely valuable, and in many instances novel. 



We have been so long accustomed to find in the reports of 

 collectors little more than a list of the species collected, with 

 localities and dates, that it is particularly refreshing to meet 

 with a writer whose descriptive powers enable him to transport 

 us, as it were, to the scenes with which he himself has become 

 familiar, there to give us an insight into the haunts and habits 

 of creatures about which most people in this country know next 

 to nothing. With their external forms, doubtless, we may 

 become acquainted by the aid of museums and zoological gardens, 

 but of their true role in life, and their mode of existence, were it 

 not for observers like Mr. Hudson, we should remain profoundly 

 ignorant, while the study of zoology would be deprived of half 

 its charm. 



To give an adequate idea of the variety of information to be 

 found in this volume, on the subject of South American mammals, 

 birds, reptiles, and insects, is almost hopeless. Commencing 

 with a description of the desert pampas and the characteristic 

 animals which dwell there, we are presented in the second 

 chapter with an account of the Puma, fuller than any account we 

 have yet met with, except perhaps that given by Dr. Hart Mer- 

 riam in his description of the Adirondacks. But even here Mr. 

 Hudson has something new to tell us. In Patagonia he heard 

 on all sides that it was extremely difficult to breed horses, as the 

 colts were mostly killed by Pumas : — 



" As a fact wherever Pumas abound, the wild horse of the present 

 time, introduced from Europe, can hardly maintain its existence. 

 Formerly in many places horses ran wild and multiplied to an amazing 

 extent, but this happened only in districts where Pumas were scarce, 

 or had already been driven out by man. My own experience is that 

 on the desert pampas wild horses are exceedingly scarce, and from all 

 accounts it is the same throughout Patagonia." 



But although so destructive to horses and sheep, it will be 



