296 NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE COUGUAR. 



THE couguar is as long but not so thick as Hie 

 jaguar. He has a small head, a long tail, short hair, 

 which is of a lively red colour, intermixed with a few 

 blackish tints, particularly on the upper part of the 

 back. He is neither marked with long stripes, like 

 the tiger, nor with round and full spots, like the leo- 

 pard, nor with annular spots, like the panther and the 

 ounce. His chin and his neck are whitish, and all 

 the inferior parts of his body. Though less strong 

 than the jaguar, he is as fierce, and perhaps more 

 cruel. He appears too to be more greedy of prey ; 

 nor, when once seized, does he ever offer to relinquish 

 it till he has fully glutted his voracious appetite. 



This animal is not unsommon in Guiana. Fqr- 

 merly couguars were known to swim over in numbers 

 to the island of Cayenne, to attack and devour the 

 flocks, and were considered as a scourge to the colony. 

 By degrees, however, the settlers lessened their num- 

 ber, and at length expelled them entirely. 



The couguar, by the agility of his body and the 

 length of his legs, seems calculated to run, and to 

 climb trees better than the jaguar. They are both 

 equally remarkable for sloth and cowardice when 

 once they are satiated with prey ; and seldom known 

 to attack men, unless when they find them asleep. 

 They delight in the lofty shades of forests, where they 

 hide themselves in the covert of some thick tree, in 

 order to dart forth on such animals as pass by. 

 Though they live only upon prey, and quench their 

 thirst more often with blood than with water, yet it 

 has been said by some, that their flesh is exceedingly 

 palatable. Piso says expressly, that it is as good as 



