It Is An Elegant
Animal In A State Of Nature, With A Long Slender Neck And
Fine Legs.
It is very common over the whole of the temperate
parts of the continent, as far south as the islands near Cape
Horn.
It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen
to thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw
one herd which must have contained at least five hundred.
They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes
told me, that he one day saw through a glass a herd of these
animals which evidently had been frightened, and were running
away at full speed, although their distance was so great
that he could not distinguish them with his naked eye. The
sportsman frequently receives the first notice of their
presence, by hearing from a long distance their peculiar shrill
neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will
probably see the herd standing in a line on the side of some
distant hill. On approaching nearer, a few more squeals are
given, and off they set at an apparently slow, but really quick
canter, along some narrow beaten track to a neighbouring
hill. If, however, by chance he abruptly meets a single animal,
or several together, they will generally stand motionless
and intently gaze at him; then perhaps move on a few yards,
turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference
in their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance
for their chief enemy the puma?
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 255 of 776
Words from 68095 to 68356
of 208183
