The
first few pairs, moreover, had here to contend against pre-existing
enemies, in the fox and some large hawks. The French naturalists
have considered the black variety a distinct species, and called it
Lepus Magellanicus. (9/5. Lesson's "Zoology of the Voyage of the
Coquille" tome 1 page 168. All the early voyagers, and especially
Bougainville, distinctly state that the wolf-like fox was the only
native animal on the island. The distinction of the rabbit as a
species is taken from peculiarities in the fur, from the shape of
the head, and from the shortness of the ears. I may here observe
that the difference between the Irish and English hare rests upon
nearly similar characters, only more strongly marked.) They
imagined that Magellan, when talking of an animal under the name of
"conejos" in the Strait of Magellan, referred to this species; but
he was alluding to a small cavy, which to this day is thus called
by the Spaniards. The Gauchos laughed at the idea of the black kind
being different from the grey, and they said that at all events it
had not extended its range any farther than the grey kind; that the
two were never found separate; and that they readily bred together,
and produced piebald offspring.
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