46 NATURAL HISTORY. 



cattle. It is said that they kill their prey by breaking their necks. If driven from the carcass, they 

 seldom return to it. The Gauchos say that the Jaguar, when wandering about at night, is much 

 tormented by the Foxes yelping as they follow him. This is a curious coincidence with the fact which 

 is generally affirmed of the Jackals accompanying, in a similarly officious manner, the East Indian 

 Tiger. The Jaguar is a noisy animal, roaring much by night, and especially before bad weather. 

 One dav, when hunting on the banks of the Uruguay, I was shown certain trees to which these animals 

 constantly recur for the purpose, as it is said, of sharpening their claws. I saw three well-known trees ; 

 in front, the bark was worn smooth as if by the breast of the animal, and on each side there were deep 

 scratches, or rather gi-ooves, extending in an oblique line, nearly a yard in length. The scars were of 

 different aes. A common method of ascertaining if a Jaguar is in the neighbourhood is to examine 

 these trees. I imagine this habit of the Jaguar is exactly similar to one which may any day be seen 

 in the common Cat, as with outstretched legs and exserted claws it scrapes the leg of a chair ; and I 

 have heard of young fruit-trees in an orchard in England having been thus much injured. Some such 

 habit must also be common to the Puma, for on the bai-e hard soil of Patagonia I have frequently seen 

 scores so deep that no other animal could have made them. The object of this practice is, I believe, 

 to tear off the ragged points of their claws, and not, as the Gauchos think, to sharpen them. The 

 Jaguar is killed, without much difficulty, by the aid of Dogs baying and driving him up a tree, where 

 he is despatched with bullets." 



It has been stated that great contests take place between the Jaguars and the Alligators which 

 frequent the rivers of the regions in which the great Cat lives. It is said that the Jaguar is fully a 

 match for the Alligator on land, while in the water the reptile has usually the best of it. The tale 

 must, however, be taken cum grano sails. A very curious fact is mentioned by Brehm, namely, that 

 the Jaguar always attacks Negroes and Indians in preference to whites, and that a white man, obliged 

 to sleep in the open air in a dangerous locality, always feels perfectly safe if accompanied by natives. 

 It is thought that this is probably due to the strong odour which characterises the skin of the Negro 

 and other dark races. As tending to confirm this extraordinary statement, we may mention an 

 anecdote told us by the late Prof. P. M. Duncan, F.R.S., of the behaviour of the great Felidce at 

 the Zoological Gardens towards coloured people. Every one must have noticed the calm, supercilious, 

 way in which those grand creatures regard the visitors to their abode, seeming to look on them 

 as beings of an inferior race come to pay rightful homage to strength and beauty ; except at 

 feeding-time, they seem hardly to give a thought to the admiring crowds in their house of 

 reception, but pace regularly up and down their dens, or sit with paws thrust out between the 

 bars, stolidly gazing. Several years ago, however, when the Prince of Wales's Indian animals 

 were exhibited at the Gardens, a little black boy, one of the attendants attached to the collection, 

 often passed through the Lion-house ; and when he did so, every Cat in the place started to its 

 feet, and rushed to the bars of its cage with great demonstrations of anger and ferocity. They 

 evidently felt that here, at least, was one of the black, two-legged animals on which their fathers and 

 grandfathers had fed from time immemorial, and that now was their time to strike for a pleasant 

 change of diet, after the monotony of beef bones, ignominiously cut up and parcelled out to them. 



THE PUMA.* 



The Puma, or " South American Lion," is the second great American Carnivore. It occurs far 

 more widely spread iu the continent than the Jaguar, ranging from the cold regions of the Strait of 

 Magellan up to 50" or 60 north latitude. In appearance it is not unlike a small Lioness, having a 

 tint somewhat similar to the characteristic tawny colour of the monarch of Africa, but darker, greyer, 

 and less rich ; the mane, too, is absent. Its head is proportionally, as well as absolutely, much smaller 

 than that of the Lion ; its face is rounder, and it is altogether a much smaller beast : its average size 

 being about thirty-nine or forty inches from the snout to the root of the thick, strong tail, the latter 

 again being some twenty-five or twenty-six inches long, and the height about the same. Indistinct 

 spots occur, as in the Lion, on the belly and the inside of the legs. The hind-quarters are very 

 large, and are kept higher than the shoulders in walking. The skin beneath the belly is remarkably 

 loose and pendulous. 



* Felis concotor. 



