398 



THE CAT. 



[chap. XII. 



The jaguar is a very fierce animal, and often destroys men and 

 women. Its favourite haunts are the wooded banks of rivers, and its 

 habitual food is the giant rodent — the capybara. This great cat 

 ranges from the Eed Paver, Louisiana, and the Rio Bravo, Texas, 

 down to the most northern parts of Patagonia, i.e., to 40° south 

 latitude. 



(7.) The Clouded Tiger (Felis macrocelis).* 



§ 6. This very handsome and interesting animal — the last of the 

 series of very large cats — has a coat, the ground colour of which is 



Fig. 108.— The Clouded Tiger {Fclit inacroccUs), 



a brownish groy, marked with stripes and spots of black, which form 

 large and irregularly disposed patches. The under parts are, as 

 usual, whitish. The cheeks and sides of the head arc marked with 

 two parallel bands, one extending backwards from the eye to beneath 

 the car, the other more or less parallel, and passing backwards 

 from above the angle of the mouth. 



The animal is about forty-two inches long from snout to tail-end, 



* See Pro. Zool. Soc, 1S50, p. 102. It is described also l.j' Jcrdou in his 

 Mammals of British India. 



