OEPER V. THE CAKXIVOrvA. 145 



three years was plnvinii' witli it, ns it liud often done before, the ocelot, 

 being irritated, seized the infant by tlie throat, and killed it, Ixforc assist- 

 ance could be rendered. 



]\Ir. AVilson famishes an aecoiint of this animal, from which we learn 

 many particulars regardini;' its hal)its and eapacit_v for domestication. 

 "Siie is reuKirkably playlVd, much inclined to climb up tlic lej^s of tliose 

 who approach her, and deliylits in being carried about in people's arms like 

 a cat. (She is an extremely powerful animal, but gentle through the inilu- 

 enee of domesticatii)n, and attached to those who feed her. One day slic 

 seized a glove of chamois Icatlier, which she tore to pieces and swallowed 

 immediately. The person to whom the glo\c Ixdonged could not rescue it 

 with the strength of both his hands. "While young, tliis animal was i'cd on 

 oatmeal porridge and milk, and has been all along sustained chiclly by milk 

 and vegctaliles, with occasionally a i)it cjf broiled liver or other oif.d. The 

 nature of the diet has obviously a eonsi<lerable iniluence on her disposition. 

 "When farinaceous food and milk prevail, she is certainly more tractable 

 tlian when animal food is giNCn in any consideralile quantity : and when 

 treated with live birds or raw iiesli, she is obscr\ed to assume greater fierce- 

 ness of aspect, and to strike more forcibly with lier fore paws at passing- 

 animals. She has sometimes made her escape from confinement, and ex- 

 hibited a power of climbing trees with great activity and ease. She has 

 oceasionally eommittcd considerable liavoe in the poultry-yard, and lias 

 more than once greatly alarmed a horse by jumping on his back in the 

 stable. In this last feat, however, the ocelot seemed to be actuated ratlier 

 by a desire for society than the love of mischief, for she coiled herself up 

 on the hind quarter, e\idently for the purpose of repose : but the plunging 

 of the horse induced her to use her claws to render her seat more secure. 

 U[ion this, the steed, as might be expected, redoubled his exertions to dis- 

 lodge his supposed enemy, and the ocelot was at last thrown, receiving in 

 her descent a kick, which she never afterwards forgot ; for it has since licen 

 observed that, on seeing a horse, she immediately betakes herself to her 

 den. A house-dog and the ocelot speedily ac(piired a knowledge of each 

 other's powers, and neither seemed disposed to court an attack. A few 

 days before her departure to London from Li\erpool, she occasioned a seri- 

 ous alarm. Being secured, by a long chain, in front of a cottage door, she 

 suddenly threw down a young girl of four j-ears old, and, to the horror of 

 the beholders, appeared to seize the child liy the throat. This, however, 

 was intended merely as play, for neither her sharp teeth nor crooked talons 

 inflicted the slightest injury ; and after tumbling over each other more than 

 once, the child was taken up severely frightened, but no way htut."' 



The linked ocelot (Fdis attrnabi), and the long-tailed ocelot {Fells ma- 



KO. IV. I'J 



