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The vicunas, afraid to spring over the ropes with the coloured rags fluttering in their faces, are attacked by the hunters with their bolas, the hind-legs being generally aimed at. The huanucus, which are much wilder, invariably leap the barriers and escape, when frequently the vicunas follow their example.
As the deer or vicuna passes below, it launches itself on the doomed creature, and, drawing back its neck with its powerful claws, breaks the vertebra, and instantly kills it. Darwin states that he has frequently seen skeletons of huanucus with their necks thus dislocated. In the Amazonian forests the puma is not so common as the jaguar.
Although it is only when enraged that the llamas and huanucus spit upon those near them, the vicunas and alpacas invariably eject saliva and undigested food which has a peculiarly disagreeable smell upon all who approach them. Vicunas in vast numbers are found ranging over the more remote and lofty regions of the Puna, where they are able to find a safe retreat from the attacks of man.
The body is brown, with the under parts white; the face is of a blackish-grey, approaching to white about the lips. The fleece is shorter and not so fine as that of the llama. The huanucus are very shy, and only when caught young can they be tamed and even then they can rarely be induced to carry burdens. They generally live in small troops of from five to seven.
Armed with spears, they gradually closed in, destroying the beasts of prey, and driving the huanucus, vicunas, and deer towards the centre, where the male deer and the huanucus were slaughtered. The vicunas are hunted at the present day. A member from each family of the Puna villages joins the hunting party, forming altogether a band of about one hundred persons. They carry poles with cordage.
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