426 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



there are wild cattle in the world (e.g. in the Galapagos Islands) 

 which are as well worth hunting as the biggest buffaloes. 



The jaguar, though a much larger beast than the puma 

 (identical with the panther of the West), appears to be anything 

 but a sporting beast, haunting river jungles and dense swamps, 

 and being unable, according to Mr. Hudson (the ' Naturalist 

 on La Plata ') to hold his own even against his smaller cousin, 

 the puma, who is described by the same authority as a ' bold 

 hunter,' invariably preferring large to small game, which he 

 kills as a tiger does, by dislocating the neck. The puma is, 

 according to the same authority, a persistent persecutor of the 

 jaguar. Both Mr. Hudson and Admiral Kennedy seem agreed 

 that the puma is a very dangerous enemy to the guanaco, and 

 a scourge to everything living upon the Pampas, except man 

 and the gama (C. campestris), which protects itself as the skunk 

 does, by its unpleasant smell. Mr. Hudson's stories of the 

 strange affection of the puma for man, although calculated 

 to excite incredulity at first, coincide somewhat strangely with 

 some of the Western stories of the panther (or puma) already 

 narrated ; but it must be borne in mind that the panther of 

 the West does attack man in a few rare instances, according to 

 the evidence of Mr. Perry. 



Of all the beasts in South America Admiral Kennedy writes 

 most enthusiastically of the guanaco, an animal nearly allied 

 to the camel, weighing about 180 Ibs., abundant from the Rio 

 Colorado to the Straits of Magellan, and affording good sport 

 to the stalker. 



But a beast which carries no ' head,' which, according even 

 to its admirers, ' neighs like a horse ' when giving warning of 

 danger, and ' quacks like a duck ' when alarmed, seems to one 

 who knows neither guanaco nor ciervo a very unattractive 

 creature compared with the really fine deer, C.paludosus, which 

 is found upon the Chaco of Paraguay and in the Argentine 

 Republic. This deer somewhat resembles the red deer of Scot- 

 land, but grows to large dimensions. The horns figured are 

 from some in the British Museum. 



