90 
ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 
“ This animal is found only where the country has rather a desert character. 
It is a common feature in the landscape of Patagonia, to see in the distance 
two or three of these Cavies hopping one after another in a straight line over the 
gravelly plains, thinly clothed by a few thorny bushes and a withered herbage. 
Near the coast of the Atlantic, the northern limit of this species is formed by the 
Sierra Tapalguen, in latitude 37 ° 30 ', where the plains rather suddenly become 
greener and more humid. The limit certainly depends on this change, since near 
Mendoza, ( 33 ° 30 '.) four degrees further northward, where the country is very sterile, 
this animal again occurs. Azara erroneously supposed that its northern range 
was only 35 °.* It is not clear on what circumstances its limit southward between 
Ports Desire and St. Julian (about 48 ° 30 '.) depends ; for there is in that part no 
change in the features of the country. It is, moreover, a singular circumstance, 
that although the Cavy was not seen at Port St. Julian during our voyage, yet 
Capt. Wood, in 1670 , speaks of them as being numerous there. What cause can 
have altered, in a wide, uninhabited, and rarely visited country, the range of an 
animal like this ? 
“Azara states,! that the Cavy never excavates its own burrow, but uses 
that of the Bizcacha. Wherever this animal is present, without doubt this is 
true ; but on the sandy plains of Bahia Blanca, where the Bizcacha is not found, 
the Spaniards maintain that the Cavy is its own workman. The same thing 
occurs with the little owls of the Pampas ( Noctua cunicularid), which have been 
described by travellers as standing like sentinels at the mouths of almost every 
burrow ; for in Banda Oriental, owing to the absence of the Bizcacha, these birds 
are obliged to hollow out tlieir own habitations. Azara says, also, that this Cavy, 
except when pressed by danger, does not enter its burrow ; on this point I must 
again differ from that high authority. At Bahia Blanca I have repeatedly seen 
two or three of these animals sitting on their haunches by the mouths of their 
holes, which they quietly entered as I passed by at a distance. Daily, in the 
neighbourhood of these spots, the Cavies were abundant : but differently from 
most burrowing animals, they wander, commonly two or three together, to miles 
or leagues from their home ; nor do I know whether they return at night. The 
Cavy feeds and roams about by day ; is shy and watchful ; seldom squats after 
the manner of a hare ; cannot run very fast, and, therefore, is frequently caught 
by a couple of dogs, even of mixed breed. Its manner of running more resembles 
that of a rabbit than of a hare. The Cavy generally produces two young ones 
at a birth, which are brought forth within the burrow. The flesh, when cooked, is 
* Azara, Voyage dans 1’ Amerique Meridionale, yoI. i. p. 318. 
t Azara, Quadrupeds of Paraguay. 
