. Through the heart of Patagonia. Natural history. SOUTHWARD HO! 27. THE START ON OUR LONG TREK a cavy {Dolichotis patagonicd). So we marched on over the rolling downs day after day, sometimes catching a glimpse of the sea, sometimes journeying across pampas where the far horizons met in pale blue sky and puffed white clouds above, and below grass and endless scrub. We saw Cayenne plover (Vanellus cayennensis) at an early stage of our travels. I have already mentioned the herds of guanaco that roam the interior. This animal belongs dis- tinctively to South America, and is to be found nowhere e
. Through the heart of Patagonia. Natural history. SOUTHWARD HO! 27. THE START ON OUR LONG TREK a cavy {Dolichotis patagonicd). So we marched on over the rolling downs day after day, sometimes catching a glimpse of the sea, sometimes journeying across pampas where the far horizons met in pale blue sky and puffed white clouds above, and below grass and endless scrub. We saw Cayenne plover (Vanellus cayennensis) at an early stage of our travels. I have already mentioned the herds of guanaco that roam the interior. This animal belongs dis- tinctively to South America, and is to be found nowhere else in the world. Darwin writes of it as follows : " The guanaco, or wild llama, is the characteristic quadruped of the plains of Pata- gonia. ... It is an elegant animal in a state of nature, with a long slender neck and fine ; In colour the guanaco is of a golden-brown with white underparts, the hair upon the sides being somewhat long and fleecy. Enormous herds of from three to five hundred live upon the pampas, and we were aware that we should chiefly depend for meat on those we might chance to shoot during many months to come. One evening, when I was riding the troop of horses, I saw my first guanaco. Coming round a bend of the winding canadon, I looked up arid perceived him. The sight was highly picturesque. It was an old buck standing alone on the top of a cliff some two hundred feet high and looking down at me. He was posed against a background of pale green glinting sunset. I had hardly time to unsling my rifle before he bounded away. We saw many thousands afterwards, but somehow in the nature of things I shall never forget that first one. On the coast-farms, which, it must be recollected, are many of. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Prichard, Hesketh Vernon
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1902
