110 ANIMALS IN aiENAGERIES. 



surface, attracts the fish ; these are seized by the paw, 

 and thrown on shore for food. 



Azara relates the following circumstance, as happening 

 in Paraguay : — Having been informed that a jaguar had 

 attacked a horse very near where he was, he hastened 

 to the spot. He found the horse not only dead, but par- 

 tially devoured; although the jaguar, from having been 

 disturbed, had retired. Our historian directed the body 

 of the horse to be removed within musket-shot of a tree, 

 in which he intended to pass the night, naturally sup- 

 posing that the jaguar would return towards evening 

 and carry away the carcase. Before this could be ar- 

 ranged, the animal actually made his appearance from 

 the opposite side of a broad and deep river, and, in the 

 sight of the person who was left in concealment to 

 watch the dead horse, seized it with its teeth, drew it 

 with ease to the river's edge, swam across, and then 

 dragged it into a neighbouring forest. Azara likewise 

 mentions, that the natives frequently fasten two horses 

 together while grazing, and that the jaguar will some- 

 times kill one, and, in spite of the exertions of the other, 

 draw both into the wood. 



Of its habits in captivity we can find no authentic 

 records, although we believe it is by no means rare 

 in European menageries. 



There seem to be two, if not three, varieties, some 

 of which may probably turn out to be distinct species. 

 The first of these, which major Smith considers to be 

 the Pope of Azara, measured two feet ten inches in 

 height at the shoulder : the lines of lengthened spots on 

 the back are not quite full, and the marks on the sides 

 are very irregular and indefinable. This description 

 was taken from an old male, killed in Surinam. The 

 second variety, or small jaguar, was two feet two 

 inches high : its general colour was paler and more 

 ashy than the last, and marked with five distinct rows 

 of large annulated spots on the sides. The third is a 

 black variety found in Brazil : it has the same spots 

 and marks as the others, on a ground of browner black ; 



