The Jaguar 191 



think themselves safe in trees, since E. F. im Thum and 

 others explain that they not only swing their hammocks out 

 of reach among branches, but build fires around the stems 

 to prevent them from being ascended. In such a case the 

 jaguar would probably act as he does when a monkey gets 

 out to the end of an isolated limb that will not bear his 

 weight — that is to say, spring upon the prey, and come to 

 the ground with it. 



When a lion or tiger receives a shot, it is very often 

 replied to by a roar, and this whether the animal attacks 

 in return or bounds away. A jaguar, however, generally 

 bears his wounds without any outcry, and if he intends to 

 fight, does so, like the panther, at once. The writer has 

 neither seen nor heard that these animals make use of 

 those stratagems that tigers constantly, and lions fre- 

 quently, adopt for the purpose of intimidating their assail- 

 ants and causing them to retreat. It would appear that 

 jaguars do not commonly make feigned assaults, but 

 generally charge in earnest, with lightning-like rapidity, 

 and desperate determination. The writer, speaking from 

 experience, is inclined to think that these animals act in 

 this way as constantly as the panther. There may be, how- 

 ever, numerous exceptions to this behavior ; the opinion ex- 

 pressed is not offered as if it were final, and the data upon 

 which it is based are extremely imperfect. More than 

 that, it should be acknowledged with regard to any facts 

 stated, that they only represent this, or any other animal's 

 average behavior. There can be no doubt that wild beasts 

 will sometimes do anything and everything which is not 

 positively impossible. 



