Jaguar 



Columbia, in a region where cougar were common, I found 

 them preying as freely on the goats as on the deer. It rarely 

 catches antelope, but is quick to seize rabbits, other small beasts, 

 and even porcupines. 



"No animal, not even the wolf, is so rarely seen or so 

 difficult to get without dogs. On the other hand, no other 

 wild beast of its size and power is so easy to kill by the aid 

 of dogs. There are many contradictions in its character. Like 

 the American wolf, it is certainly very much afraid of man; 

 yet it habitually follows the trail of the hunter or solitary trav- 

 eller, dogging his footsteps, itself always unseen. When hungry 

 it will seize and carry off any dog, yet it will sometimes go 

 up a tree when pursued even by a single small dog wholly 

 unable to do it the least harm. It is small wonder that the 

 average frontier settler should grow to regard almost with super- 

 stition the great furtive cat which he never sees but of whose 

 presence he is ever aware. The cougar is as large, as powerful 

 and as formidably armed as the Indian panther, and quite as 

 well able to attack man; yet the instances of its having done 

 so are exceedingly rare. But it is foolish to deny that such 

 attacks on human beings never occur. ... It cannot be 

 too often repeated that we must never lose sight of the individ- 

 ual variation in character and conduct among wild beasts." 



Mexican Jaguar 



Felis hernandezii 



Length. 7 feet; tail, 2 feet. 



Description. A large leopard-like animal, tawny yellow above, 

 white below, spotted with black along the back, and with 

 black, light-centered rosettes on the sides, each with a cen- 

 tral black dot. Tail ringed black and yellow. 



Range. Lower Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Mexico, and 

 represented by allied varieties in Central and South America. 



This large cat, though common in Mexico, is of rare 

 occurrence within the borders of our country, and like other 

 species of Southern Texas, is only a straggler from farther south. 

 Where plentiful, it preys on all sorts of animals, even 

 overcoming the tapir with ease. Stories are told of its attacking 



Pt* 



