YAGOUARONDI.—Leopardus Yagouarondi 
Such creatures as are unfortunate enough to please the taste of the Puma, are nearly 
always taken by surprise, and struck down before t they are even aware of the vicinity of 
their tawny foe. The Puma loves to hide upon the branches of trees, and from that 
eminence to launch itself upon the doomed animal that may pass within reach of its active 
leap and its death-dealing paw. 
While thus lying upon the branches, the creature is almost invisible from below, as 
its fur harmonizes so well with the brown bark which covers the boughs, that the one can 
scarcely be distinguished from the other. Even when imprisoned within the limits of a 
cage, where the eye has no great range of objects for inspection, the Puma will often lie 
so “closely pressed against a shelf, or flattened upon the thick boughs which are placed in 
its cell, that the cage appears at first sight to be empty, even though the spectator may 
have come to it with the express object ‘of inspecting the inhabitants. It may therefore 
be easily imagined how treacherous a foe the Puma may be when ranging at will among 
the countless trees of an American forest. 
The flesh of this animal is said, by those who have made trial of it, to be a pleasant 
addition to the diet scale, beg white, tender, and of good flavour. W hen taken young, 
the Puma is peculiarly susceptible of domestication, ‘and has been known to follow its 
master just like a dog. The hunters of the Pampas are expert Puma slayers, and achieve 
their end either by catching the bewildered animal with a lasso, and then galloping off 
with the poor creature hanging at the end of the leather cord, or by flinging the celebrated 
bolas—metal balls or stones fastened to a rope—at the Puma, and laying it senseless on 
the ground with a blow from the heavy weapon. 
The Puma is not the only example of a pardine animal which is destitute of the usual 
pardine spots and stripes. 
The YAGOUARONDI possesses a fur of a nearly uniform colour, without either spots or 
streaks. Its colour is rather a variable brown, sometimes charged with a deep black tinge, 
and sometimes dashed with a sheht freckling of white. When the animal i is angry, the 
white grizzly tinge becomes more conspicuous than when its temper is undisturbed. The 
reason for this curious change of hue is, that each hair is alternately dark and white, the 
tips being all black. If, therefore, the Yagouarondi is in a placid humour, its fur lies 
