112 BIG GAME FIELDS 



tinct family. In the tropics they also capture for 

 food the tapir, peccary, agouti, labbas, marsh 

 deer, fowl, and consume large numbers of fresh- 

 water turtles and their eggs. The jaguar swims 

 well and does not hesitate to follow turtles or alli- 

 gators into the water to effect their capture. Per- 

 haps one of his most eccentric propensities is the 

 pursuit of the cayman or alligator. He seems to 

 have a great fondness for its fishy flavor. Often 

 the great cat, by a dexterous stroke of his paw, 

 will flip a fish from the water up on the bank, 

 and this practice seems to be engaged in both 

 for sport and for gain ; for all animals, no matter 

 how serious a life they lead, must play a little 

 some time, and I think the cat family particularly 

 are more given over to this. 



We see another trait where the jaguar re- 

 sembles his cousin, the leopard, in their mutual 

 fondness for monkeys, and heavy is the toll ex- 

 acted from their ranks. Another apparently 

 savory morsel of food to his "spotship" is the dog. 

 The cautious approach of the jaguar is so wary 

 that an unfortunate canine is often pinned by 

 the neck and carried off before it is aware of the 

 presence of its enemy. While hunting one year 

 in Mexico my guide told me of a nearby town 

 where the dogs had been almost extirpated by the 



