Another visitor to the plantations was a kind of small, red forest-deer or brocket (_Mazama_) with single-spike horns. They spent the days in the heavy timber or dense, low thickets and wild banana-brakes. They were particularly fond of growing beans and destroyed quantities of the legumes in a single night. The natives’ way of ridding themselves of the plunderer is to erect a high platform on poles in the centre of the field, commanding a view on all sides, and then shoot the animal as it emerges from its hiding-place. We also secured a good specimen of one of the rarest animals found in South America. It is the red wolf (_Chrysocyon_), or guaraguasú, of the Brazilians. However, very little is known of the animal’s habits even by the Indians and natives who are usually so prolific with stories about the wild creatures coming under their observation. My own experience is limited to two fleeting glances of the huge red forms dashing away at breakneck speed several hundred yards distant, and to hearing the weird, strange wail at night. It equals or exceeds in size the gray wolf of our north woods. It is said to live singly, frequenting the _chapadão_ and papyrus marshes, and to travel great distances in quest of rabbits, cavies, and other small mammals that form its principal items of food. There were also peccaries, black howler monkeys and marmosettes, and among the smaller mammals living in the deep forest was a curious little woolly opossum (_Metachirus_) that ventured out only after dark in search of fruits, insects, birds, or almost anything of an edible nature. It is essentially an animal of the deep shadows; if taken out into the brilliant sunshine it dies within a very short time. Frequently our traps were sprung by black lizards three or four feet long (_Dracæna_); they fought fiercely and clung tenaciously to a stick or other object within their reach. Their teeth are so strong that they scratched the steel barrel of a shotgun. Rattlesnakes were not rare in the open country, but they were of small size; I saw none more than three feet long.