The Naturalist in La Plata

The Naturalist in La Plata

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Title: The Naturalist in La Plata
Author: W. H. Hudson
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7446] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 1, 2003]
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Produced by Eric Eldred

THE NATURALIST IN LA PLATA
BY
W. H. HUDSON, C.M.Z.S.
JOINT AUTHOR OF "ARGENTINE ORNITHOLOGY"
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. SMIT
THIRD EDITION.
NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1895

PREFACE.
The plan I have followed in this work has been to sift and arrange the
facts I have gathered concerning the habits of the animals best known
to me, preserving those only, which, in my judgment, appeared worth
recording. In some instances a variety of subjects have linked
themselves together in my mind, and have been grouped under one
heading; consequently the scope of the book is not indicated by the list
of contents: this want is, however, made good by an index at the end.
It is seldom an easy matter to give a suitable name to a book of this
description. I am conscious that the one I have made choice of displays
a lack of originality; also, that this kind of title has been used hitherto
for works constructed more or less on the plan of the famous
_Naturalist on the Amazons._ After I have made this apology the
reader, on his part, will readily admit that, in treating of the Natural
History of a district so well known, and often described as the southern
portion of La Plata, which has a temperate climate, and where nature is
neither exuberant nor grand, a personal narrative would have seemed
superfluous.
The greater portion of the matter contained in this volume has already

seen the light in the form of papers contributed to the _Field,_ with
other journals that treat of Natural History; and to the monthly
magazines:--_Longmans', The Nineteenth Century, The Gentleman's
Magazine,_ and others: I am indebted to the Editors and Proprietors of
these periodicals for kindly allowing me to make use of this material.
Of all animals, birds have perhaps afforded me most pleasure; but most
of the fresh knowledge I have collected in this department is contained
in a larger work _(Argentine Ornithology),_ of which Dr. P. L. Sclater
is part author. As I have not gone over any of the subjects dealt with in
that work, bird-life has not received more than a fair share of attention
in the present volume.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
THE DESERT PAMPAS

CHAPTER II.
CUB PUMA, OR LION OF AMERICA

CHAPTER III.
WAVE OF LIFE

CHAPTER IV.
SOME CURIOUS ANIMAL WEAPONS

CHAPTER V.
FEAR IN BIRDS

CHAPTER VI.

PARENTAL AND EARLY INSTINCTS

CHAPTER VII.
THE MEPHITIC SKUNK

CHAPTER VIII.
MIMICRY AND WARNING COLOURS IN GRASSHOPPERS

CHAPTER IX.
DRAGON-FLY STORMS

CHAPTER X.
MOSQUITOES AND PARASITE PROBLEMS

CHAPTER XI.
HUMBLE-BEES AND OTHER MATTERS

CHAPTER XII.
A NOBLE WASP

CHAPTER XIII.
NATURE'S NIGHT-LIGHTS

CHAPTER XIV.
FACTS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT SPIDERS

CHAPTER XV.

THE DEATH-FEIGNING INSTINCT

CHAPTER XVI.
HUMMING-BIRDS

CHAPTER XVII.
THE CRESTED SCREAMER

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE WOODHEWER FAMILY

CHAPTER XIX.
MUSIC AND DANCING IN NATURE

CHAPTER XX.
BIOGRAPHY OF THE VIZCACHA

CHAPTER XXI.
THE DYING HUANACO

CHAPTER XXII.
THE STRANGE INSTINCTS OF CATTLE

CHAPTER XXIII.
HORSE AND MAN

CHAPTER XXIV.

SEEN AND LOST
APPENDIX
INDEX

THE NATURALIST IN LA PLATA,

CHAPTER I.
THE DESERT PAMPAS.
During recent years we have heard much about the great and rapid
changes now going on in the plants and animals of all the temperate
regions of the globe colonized by