Author: Hesketh Vernon Hesketh Prichard
Publisher: Theclassics.Us
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 116
ISBN-13: 9781230335230
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ... 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--Patagonian cavy--Arbitrary limit of range--Weight--Habits--Armadillo. In commencing this chapter I may remark that, as far as English publications 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 1871, 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 boatparty 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 (Xenelaphus bisulais), 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...
