86 Anecdotal Natural History. 



sand in which they were deposited. Lizards, shellfish, 

 and even insects also fall victims to his voracious 

 appetite. 



In farmyards the jaguar is a terrible enemy, doing 

 the utmost damage among stock of all kinds. Some 

 of the earlier settlers, in fact, were so troubled by 

 these animals that they found it perfectly impossible 

 to keep any live-stock whatever until the jaguars were 

 finally driven from the neighbourhood. And this was 

 no easy task, the craft and cunning of the animals 

 rendering it a very difficult matter to kill or trap 

 them. 



The hunting-dogs of the country show a wonderful 

 aptitude for tracking the jaguar, as is well described 

 by the late Mr. C. B. Brown, in his Camp and Canoe 

 Life in British Guiana, as follows : 



' Many of the Indian hunting-dogs, trained for 

 deer or tapir, will hunt tigers (i.e., jaguars). When 

 on the track of either of those animals, should they 

 come across the scent of a tiger, their eager and con- 

 fident manner of pressing on after the game is imme- 

 diately changed, and, with the hair on their backs 

 erect, they become cautious and nervous to a degree, 

 jumping at even the snapping of a twig. Abandoning 

 the hunt, they take up the tiger's track, and follow it. 

 But should the huntsman call them from it, or not 

 cheer them on with his voice from time to time, they 

 exhibit great fear, and, keeping close to his heels, 

 cannot be induced to hunt any more in that district 

 for that day. 



'On the contrary, if allowed to follow the tiger, 

 they track it up with caution, being fully aware of the 

 cunning dodge practised by that animal; which is, 

 when the dog is close at hand, to spring to one side 

 and Ik: in ambush until it passes, when with one spring 

 the do2 is seized. 



