“The Guanacoes appear to have favourite spots for dying in. On the banks of the Santa Cruz, the ground was actually white with bones in certain circumscribed spaces, which generally were bushy and all near the river. On one such spot I counted between ten and twenty heads. I particularly examined the bones; they did not appear, as some scattered ones which I had seen, gnawed or broken as if dragged together by a beast of prey. The animals in most cases, must have crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the bushes. Mr. Bynoe informs me, that during the last voyage, he observed the same circumstances on the banks of the Rio Gallegos. I do not at all understand the reason of this; but I may add, that the Guanacoes which were wounded on the plains near the Santa Cruz invariably walked towards the river. This quadruped seems particularly liable to contain in its stomach bezoar stones. The Indians who trade at the Rio Negro, bring great numbers to sell as Remedios or quack medicines; and I saw one old man with a box quite full of them, large and small.”—D.
Family-CERVIDÆ.
Cervus campestris.
Cervus campestris, F. Cuvier, in Dict. des Sc. Nat. VII. p. 484.
——, Cuvier Oss. Foss. IV. p. 51. Pl. 3. f. 46.[[14]]
Guazuti, Azara, “Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay.” W. P. Hunter’s translation, vol. i. p. 135.
——, French translation, vol. i. p. 77.
Besides skins of this species of stag, I find, in Mr. Darwin’s collection, three pairs of horns, which, together with a pair belonging to one of the skins, constitute a sufficiently complete series to illustrate the different forms which these appendages assume, as the animal increases in size.
The above four sketches, which are all drawn to the same scale, will help to convey a clear idea of the forms, and relative proportions, of these horns.