THE COLOCOLO. 



187 



Rimau-dahan. It possesses many of the properties which belong to its larger rela- 

 tive, and is equally fond of climbing up, or resting on, the branches of trees. 



A very fine and healthy specimen of this animal is at present in the Zoological 

 Gardens, and is always attractive to visitors whenever it will venture from its straw 

 couch. On the thick branches which are placed in its cage this leopard loves to re- 

 pose, and sometimes assumes the strangest, and apparently the most uncomfortable, 

 attitudes. Lately, I saw the creature lying at full length on a nearly horizontal pole, 

 its right cheek pillowed on the bar, and all its four legs hanging down at each side of 

 the pole. It was, in fact, lying astride the bar with all four legs at once. 



RIMAU-DAHAN.- Leopardus Macracedus. 



IF the rimau-dahan be a gentle and quiet animal, it finds its contrast in the smaller, 

 but more ferocious, creature, the COLOCOLO. The color of this creature is almost 

 wholly gray, with the exception of the under parts of the body, the throat, and inside 

 of the limbs, which are white. Black streaks, occasionally diversified with a deep 

 tawny hue, are drawn at intervals over the body and limbs ; the legs are of a darker 

 gray than the rest of the body, and the tail is covered with a series of partial black 

 rings, which extend only half way round that member. These black stripes are almost 

 invariably edged with a deep tawny hue, and, on the shoulders, flanks, and thighs, 

 they are entirely tawny. The legs themselves are darker than the rest of the body, 

 being of a very deep gray. In size, the Colocolo equals or surpasses the ocelots, and, 

 to judge from collateral evidence, is a terrible enemy to the animals among which it 

 lives. 



A specimen of this creature was shot on the banks of a river in Guiana by an officer 

 of rifles, who stuffed it, and placed the skin to dry on the awning of his boat. As the 



