The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle [vol. 2 of 5] : $b MammaliaWaterhouse, G. R. (George Robert)
Science
The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle [vol. 2 of 5] : $b Mammalia
Waterhouse, G. R. (George Robert)
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Mammals; Zoology
“The habits of these animals remain nearly the same to the present day,
although their numbers have been greatly decreased by the singular
facility with which they are destroyed. I was assured by several of the
Spanish countrymen, who are employed in hunting the cattle which have
run wild on these islands, that they have repeatedly killed them by
means of a knife held in one hand, and a piece of meat to tempt them to
approach, in the other. They range over the whole island, but perhaps
are most numerous near the coast; in the inland parts they must subsist
almost exclusively on the upland geese, (_Anser leucopterus_,) which,
from fear of them, like the eider-ducks of Iceland, build only on the
small outlying islets. These wolves do not go in packs; they wander
about by day, but more commonly in the evening; they burrow holes; are
generally very silent, excepting during the breeding season, when they
utter cries, which were described to me as resembling those of the
_Canis Azaræ_. Spaniards and half-caste Indians, from several districts
of the southern portions of South America, have visited these islands,
and they all declare that the wolf is not found on the mainland; the
sealers likewise say it does not occur on Georgia, Sandwich Land, or the
other islands in the Antarctic ocean. I entertain, therefore, no doubt,
that the _Canis antarcticus_ is peculiar to this archipelago. It is
found both on East and West Falkland, as might have been inferred from
the accounts given by Bougainville and Byron, who visited different
islands;—I state this particularly, because the contrary has been
asserted. I was assured by Mr. Low, an intelligent sealer, who has long
frequented these islands, that the wolves of West Falkland are
invariably smaller and of a redder colour than those from the Eastern
island; and this account was corroborated by the officers of the
Adventure, employed in surveying the archipelago. Mr. Gray, of the
British Museum, had the kindness to compare in my presence the specimens
deposited there by Captain Fitzroy, but he could not detect any
essential difference between them. The number of these animals during
the last fifty years must have been greatly reduced; already they are
entirely banished from that half of East Falkland which lies East of the
head of St. Salvador Bay and Berkeley Sound; and it cannot, I think, be
doubted, that as these islands are now becoming colonized, before the
paper is decayed on which this animal has been figured, it will be
ranked amongst those species which have perished from the face of the
earth.”—D.
2. CANIS MAGELLANICUS.
PLATE V.
Canis Magellanicus, _Gray_, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of
London, part iv. 1836, p. 88.
Vulpes Magellanica, _Gray_, Magazine of Natural History, New Series,
1837, vol. i. p. 578.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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