THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
fruits. There were not less than fifty in the pack I saw, and nothing seemed 
likely to escape their search in the track they were traveling.... They are 
very fond of eggs; and the tame ones, which are very often kept as pets, 
play havoc amongst the poultry when they get loose.” He mentions else- 
where the animal’s fondness for iguanas, which it gets only with difficulty, 
as it has to climb every tree, and then, unless it can surprise them asleep, 
see them drop off the branch and scuttle safely away. ‘‘I once,” Belt con- 
tinues, ‘‘saw a pisoti hunting for iguanas among some bushes near the 
THE RED COATI (Nasua rufa). 
Lake, where they were very numerous, but during the quarter of an hour 
that I watched him he never caught one. . Master Pisoti, however, 
seemed to take all his disappointments with the greatest coolness, and con- 
tinued the pursuit unflaggingly. Doubtless experience had taught him 
that, sooner or later, he would surprise a corpulent iguana fast asleep on 
some branch, and too late to drop from his resting place. In the forest, I 
always saw the pisoti hunting in large bands from which an iguana would 
have small chance of escape, for some were searching along the ground, 
whilst others ranged over the branches of the trees.” 
Says Mr. Beebe, speaking of a locality near Manzanillo: — 
“A colony of these coatis lived among the rocks not far from our camp, 
and every evening they started out on their foraging expeditions. They 
Manners did not join their cousins, the raccoons and ring-tailed cats, 
in Mexico. about our tents. When they came out about dusk, they all 
trooped down to the water’s edge and drank thirstily, then washed their 
faces, coon-fashion, and cornbed their handsome fur with their long claws. 
They appeared to feed upon lizards and berries, and they were also very 
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