HISTORY OF THE JAGUAR 113 



depredations of a black lion (he meant a black 

 jaguar, as there are no black pumas). The 

 stealth and cunning this animal displayed so com- 

 pletely outwitted his pursuers that they were 

 never able to circumvent him, but several had 

 seen the black mystery as he would momentarily 

 appear or melt into the surrounding cover. 



I do not think the jaguar kills as many deer 

 as the puma, but they are much more destructive 

 to stock. In Sonora several stockmen told me 

 they suffered great losses from the raids of El 

 Tigre, and that they usually selected the calves, 

 while the puma or cougar showed a preference 

 for colts. I cannot take space to mention all the 

 animals the jaguar frequently preys upon. I 

 must not omit to say, however, that, although he 

 subsists chiefly upon game, he hunts men also, as 

 might be expected from his size and traits. As 

 there are man-eaters among leopards and tigers, 

 so there are man-eating jaguars, and once having 

 tasted human flesh and finding it easier to kill a 

 man than almost any other animal that will af- 

 ford him a meal, under favorable conditions, he 

 acts accordingly. Cases of this kind are, how- 

 ever, rare, and are more confined to the remote 

 and sparsely inhabited latitudes where the poorly 

 armed native is no match for a beast of this kind, 



