A JAGUAR-HUNT ON THE TAQUARY 83 



branches and trunks that if not immediately killed it 

 brushes the jaguar off, the claws leaving long raking scars 

 in the tough hide. Cattle are often killed. The jaguar 

 will not meddle with a big bull; and is cautious about at- 

 tacking a herd accompanied by a bull; but it will at times, 

 where wild game is scarce, kill every other domestic animal. 

 It is a thirsty brute, and if it kills far from water will often 

 drag its victim a long distance toward a pond or stream; 

 Colonel Rondon had once come across a horse which a jag- 

 uar had thus killed and dragged for over a mile. Jaguars 

 also stalk and kill the deer; in this neighborhood they 

 seemed to be less habitual deer-hunters than the cougars; 

 whether this is generally the case I cannot say. They 

 have been known to pounce on and devour good-sized 

 anacondas. 



In this particular neighborhood the ordinary jaguars 

 molested the cattle and horses hardly at all except now 

 and then to kill calves. It was only occasionally that 

 under special circumstances some old male took to cattle- 

 killing. There were plenty of capybaras and deer, and 

 evidently the big spotted cats preferred the easier prey 

 when it was available; exactly as in East Africa we found the 

 lions living almost exclusively on zebra and antelope, and 

 not molesting the buffalo and domestic cattle, which in 

 other parts of Africa furnish their habitual prey. In some 

 other neighborhoods, not far distant, our hosts informed 

 us that the jaguars lived almost exclusively on horses and 

 cattle. They also told us that the cougars had the same 

 habits as the jaguars except that they did not prey on 

 such big animals. The cougars on this ranch never molested 

 the foals, a fact which astonished me, as in the Rockies they 



