The Jaguar 179 



their "deep, grating roar" reverberates through the forest 

 in a manner very impressive to those unaccustomed to the 

 sound. 



■ Like all animals with retractile claws, they are in the 

 habit of sharpening them, as it is called ; but it is not for 

 the purpose of putting a point upon his talons that a 

 jaguar draws them through the bark of trees. All the 

 cats are given to trying how far they can reach, and all of 

 them, both in killing game and feeding, get their nails 

 clogged with shreds of flesh. It is to cleanse them that 

 they scratch tree trunks, from time to time, as they go 

 along. Darwin asserts that each animal has an especial 

 tree to which he resorts for this purpose. 



It is agreed among several authorities that a jaguar 

 constantly strikes down, disables, and kills game with a 

 blow of his massive forearm. At the same time. Wood, 

 Humboldt, and Holder write as if death always ensued 

 from dislocation of the neck. When a horse or some 

 other large quadruped is seized, says the former, his assail- 

 ant " leaps from an elevated spot upon the shoulders . . . 

 places one paw on the back of the head and another on 

 the muzzle, and then with a single tremendous wrench 

 breaks the neck." So far as the act described is assumed to 

 be of invariable occurrence many equally reliable accounts 

 differ entirely, and the author knows from personal ex- 

 perience that jaguars will attack in front, make their 

 assault on level ground, and in some instances do not at- 

 tempt to kill either man or beast by forcing back the head. 



Independently of other facts and considerations which 

 bear upon this brute in its relation to man, the name by 



