On one or two occasions when I have fired at a huemul the others of the herd have run towards the noise. Once this happened when I was in full sight of the animals.
Musters, in his travels through Patagonia, mentions a "red" deer. Of this I could find no trace, so that in all probability he alluded to the huemul under that name; the reddish tinge of the huemul's hair lends likelihood to this suggestion.
No. 2. Puma (Felis concolor puma).
(Leon of the Argentines; Gol of the Tehuelches.)
This is the silver-grey variety of puma most commonly met with in Patagonia. The distribution of this animal extends over the entire country. It is to be found in the Cordillera as on the pampas. I came upon tracks of this animal at the end of the north-west fjord of Lake Argentino about long. 73° 14´, and I also saw a puma at the south-western extremity of that lake.
Evidence of their existence accompanied the whole itinerary of the expedition throughout the entire route it covered. The number of pumas in Patagonia is very great, more so than any zoologist has yet given an idea of. During one winter two pioneers killed seventy-three near Lake Argentino. Near San Julian immense numbers are yearly destroyed, but lately, owing to the advent of settlers, they are becoming less numerous. At Bahia Camerones, on the farm of Mr. Greenshields, fourteen pumas were killed during the winter of 1900.
A female killed near Santa Cruz measured 6 ft. 10 in., and a male killed near Lake Argentino 8 ft. 1 in.
The puma can easily be galloped down, as it rarely runs more than 300 yards or a quarter of a mile when pursued on horseback. It invariably stands at bay with its back to a bush or a rock.
In strong contradistinction to the habit of the Felis onca (jaguar), F. c. puma, when hunting, kills a number of animals from a flock or herd. To one only of these kills, however, does it return, and it always makes some pretence of burying the victim singled out for its meal, throwing upon the body in many cases merely a small bunch of thorns. This custom of the puma is frequently taken advantage of by the shepherds, who poison the chosen carcass. The puma, ninety times out of a hundred, makes its first meal upon the entrails of the victim or upon the thigh inside of the groin.
The destruction wrought by pumas upon flocks of sheep is immense. One animal killed upwards of 100 head from among a single flock. One night alone its total amounted to fourteen. Another point in connection with the predatory habits of the puma is that it will travel a long distance, even as much as ten or twelve miles, after killing.