Pearson - 1998 They are finding distressing numbers of lost baby sociabilis tucos. Eileen thinks they might be coming out of their burrows too far, looking for food, and get lost because food is probably scarce because of the drought. Also, it is possible that the mothers are having trouble finding enough food and cannot produce enough milk. I didnt think that nursing was very important for tucos, but who knows. Jorge Vallerini says that lambs are dying out in the steppe because the mothers can't feed them. Afternoon max temp 76*. Walked down to the Paleontology Museum; small but good exhibits. December 5- Bariloche. Overnight minimum 52°; sunny warm. Afternoon max. 82*. Duncan Ralph and Bruce arrived in the evening. I put out 12 traps across the street at Leopoldo Barrata's home, at his requenst. He said he had mice and had tried to poison them, but didnt know with what success. His basement and workshop are a jumble of old skis, bicycles, boxes, wood, etc. December 6- Bariloche. Overnight minimum 60°. Nothing in the traps. Sunny and warm. Drove Duncan and Bruce up to Cerro Catedral where they took off for Refugio Frey. On.y two tiny patches of snow visible from the bottom of the lifts, and Cerro Lopez is almost completely bare. Afternoon high was 68°, a cool wind came up about noon. No mice in the traps at Barrata's house. December 7- Bariloche. Windy night but cklear; minimum 52°. Put up a red bat that Duncan had found dead along the road at Lago Gutierrez. Then drove with him and Bruce and Anita out to the Llao llao Peninsula and Villa Tacul, where we dismembered a pond turtle that Duncan and Bruce had found dead along the shore of Lago Gutierrez. Here are these two kids, they have seen only two animals in months, yet they collected these two species that we have never collected before! Plus they arrived with q giant bumblebee also. Day was clear and warm. Abel Basti and a newspaper photographer came by to photo the red bat. December 8- Sunny and warm. Clara Bosch came by to arrange removal of furniture etc from the apartment. Decemer 8- Bariloche. Clear, sunny, warm, not windy.. Werner Flueck came by. We will probably leave traps and other equipkent at his house above Lago Gutierrez. In the afternoon drove up to Chalhuaco again with Duncan, Bruce and Anita. Saw one hare in the forested ascent. The caretaker said that there had been only a half meter of snow this winter instead of the usual 2 meters. Saw no llao llaos. Back at 7 p.m. December 10- Left on the 8-oclock boat for Puerto Blest, then Duncan and Bruce went on to climb over the Paso de los Nubes to Pampa Linda. We checked on the two bamboo clunps at Puerto Blest; last year saw poor production,