198 CAKNIVORA. 



the rapacious brute from the very fields where their parents were work- 

 ing. It is by no means uncommon in the Adirondacks, and De Kay 

 writes that he remembered the appearance of one of these animals in 

 Westchester County, New York State. It is occasionally seen in the 

 Catskills, and has been shot in Vermont and Massachusetts. 



The Yaguarundi, Fc/is Yaguanuidi, resembles the American panther 

 in being of a uniform color ; it is a much smaller animal — not much larger 

 indeed than a cat, but with a more weasel-like body. It extends from 

 Paraguay as far north as Matamoras. 



THE LEOPARDS. 



The most beautiful members of the whole cat tribe are the graceful 

 an J mottled species which are usually grouped together under the name 

 of leopards. They are moderately large creatures, with short, glossy fur 

 marked with spots, but without mane or tail-tuft, with short ears and 

 beautiful, large, round-pupilled, brilliant eyes. They are to be found in 

 both the Old and New Worlds, and their habits and conditions of life are 

 pretty uniform wherever they are found. Most of them possess a talent 

 unknown to either lion or tiger — they can climb trees, not mounting by 

 a bound, but by the aid of their claws, like the common cat. The noblest, 

 the largest, and the most dreaded of all the leopard tribe is the species 

 found in the New World, and with it we will commence our descrip- 

 tion. 



THE JAGUAR. 



The Jaguar, FcHs onca (Plate IX), has been celebrated by all travelers 

 in South America, and as the cougar has been called the American lion, 

 he has been styled the American tiger. Indeed, as regards size he is not 

 much inferior to the lord of the Indian jungles, and surpasses all the 

 other members of the cat tribe excepting the lion. He is somewhat 

 heavily built, the body is not so long as that of the tiger, and his legs are 

 shorter in proportion ; but he, when full grown, measures on an average 

 about five feet from the muzzle to the root of the tail, and stands about 

 three feet high. Humboldt, however, says that he saw jaguars " which 

 in length surpassed all the Indian tigers he had seen in European collec- 

 tions." The tail of the jaguar is comparatively short, averaging a little 

 less than three feet in length. The color of the fur is not quite the same 

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