ANIMAL PETS, IN AND OUT OF DOORS 49 



night animal, concealing itself during the day in holes of trees and 

 similar places. Whilst amenable to those to whom it has become 

 attached, the Kinkajou is of uncertain temper, and does not take 

 kindly to strangers. 



Mr. Lydekker says that "it is found in wooded districts from 

 Central Mexico to the Rio Negro in Brazil," and that "in Guatemala, 

 where it is far from rare, it ranges to elevations of four thousand 

 and five thousand feet above the sea." 



One can imagine how excellently the tail serves the animal in 

 procuring food in those wooded retreats, and Bates mentions an 

 instance of how he came on intimate terms of acquaintance with 

 some of them when he spent a night in the forest. He tells of how 

 at midnight he lay down and listened to the "impish hosts of 

 Vampire-Bats crowding round the cajes-trees," and how "a rustle 

 commenced from the side of the woods, and a troop of slender, long- 

 tailed animals were seen against the clear, moonlit sky, taking flying 

 leaps from branch to branch through the grove." These night 

 creatures proved to be Kinkajous, or Jupuras, as they are also called, 

 and one can imagine how in the stillness of a night in the forest 

 "the hustling, twittering and screaming, with the sounds of falling 

 fruits, showed how they were employed." 



COATI. — Another ring-tailed creature which hails from Brazil, 

 and is first cousin to the Kinkajou, is known as the Coati. This 

 is exclusively a South American species, and although the picture 

 (Fig. 40) does not show to advantage the long snout, owing to the 

 specimen depicted being engaged in a meal, the great length of the 

 snout and its mobility are features of interest. By their snouts you 

 may know them, and they have, comparatively speaking, a long and 

 narrow skull. 



The long body bears at its extremity a tapering and elongated 

 tail, as Fig. 40 portrays. There are two species of Coatis, or Coati- 

 mundis, as they are also called, one being an inhabitant of Mexico 

 and Central America, and the other being found in South America. 

 Both kinds vary a good deal in coloration, but are easily domes- 

 ticated, and make interesting pets. Mr. Berridge has well displayed 

 one of these Ring-Tailed Coatis in his coloured picture. 



These creatures have been long resident in the countries named, 

 as is proved by the remains which have been discovered from time 

 to time, whilst at a still earlier epoch in the world's history another 

 species was an inhabitant of the Argentine Republic. 



