416 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



it has been learned not only that color is the 

 only difference between the two, but also that 

 the two colors are everywhere found together, 

 affording satisfactory evidence that they are 

 merely color phases of the same species. 



The eyra is a habitant of brush-grown or 

 forested country, mainly in the lowlands, from 

 the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas south 

 to Paraguay. In this vast territory it has de- 

 veloped a number of geographic races. 



In southern Texas, where it is often asso- 

 ciated with the ocelot, the eyra lives in dense 

 thorny thickets of mesquites, acacias, iron- 

 wood, and other semitropical chaparral in a 

 region of brilliant sunlight ; but farther south 

 it also roams the magnificent forests of the 

 humid tropics, in which the sun rarely pene- 

 trates. It appears to be even more nocturnal 

 and retiring than most of our cats, and but 

 little is known of its life history. The results 

 of thorough trapping in the dense thorny thick- 

 ets near Brownsville, Texas, indicate that it is 

 probably more common than is generally sup- 

 posed. 



The natives in the lowlands of Guerrero, on 

 the Pacific coast of Mexico, informed me that 

 the eyra in that region is fond of the vicinity 

 of streams, and that it takes to the water and 

 swims freely, crossing rivers whenever it de- 

 sires. Its otterlike form goes well with such 

 'habits, and further information may prove that 

 it is commonly a water-frequenting animal. 

 Its unusual form and dual coloration and our 

 lack of knovvledge regarding the life of the 

 eyra unite to make it one of the most inter- 

 esting of our carnivores. 



, TIGER-CATS, OR OCELOTS (Felis 

 pardalis and its relatives) 



The brushy and forested areas of America 

 from southern Texas and Sonora to Paraguay 

 are inhabited by spotted cats of different spe- 

 cies, varying from the size of a large house 

 cat to that of a Canada lynx. Only one of 

 these occurs (n the United States. All are 

 characterized ' by long tails and a yellowish 

 ground color, conspicuously marked by black 

 spots, and on neck and back by short, longi- 

 tudinal stripes — a color pattern that strongly 

 suggests the leopard. 



In the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas 

 the tiger-cat is rather cornmon, with the eyra- 

 cat, in areas densely overgrown with thorny 

 chaparral. Like most of the cat tribe, it is 

 strictly nocturnal and by day lies well hidden 

 in its brushy shelter. Ry night it wanders 

 along trails over a considerable territory, seek- 

 ing its prey. Birds of all kinds, including do- 

 mestic poultry, are captured on their roosts, 

 and rabbits, wood rats, and mice of many 

 kinds, as well as snakes and other reptiles, are 

 on its list of game. 



Its reptile-eating habit was revealed to me 

 unexpectedly one day in the dense tropical for- 

 est^ of Chiapas. I was riding along a steep 

 trail beside a shallow brush-grown ravine when 

 a tiger-cat suddenly rushed up the trunk of a 



tree close by. A lucky shot from my revolver 

 brought it to the ground, and I found it lying 

 in the ravine by the body of a recently killed 

 boa about 5 or 7 feet long. It had eaten the 

 Loa's head and neck when my approach inter- 

 rupted the feast. 



The first of these cats I trapped in Mexico 

 was captured the night after ray arrival, in a 

 trail bordering the port of Manzanillo, on the 

 Pacific coast. The rejoicing of the natives 

 living close: by evidenced the toll this marauder 

 I:ad been taking from their chickens. 



The tiger-cat is much more quiet and less 

 fierce in disposition than most felines. It ex- 

 cited my surprise and interest whenever I 

 trapped one to note how nonchalantly it took 

 the situation. The captive never dashed wildly 

 about to escape, but when I drew near sat and 

 looked quietly at me without the slightest sign 

 of alarm and with little apparent interest. A 

 small trap-hold, even on the end of a single 

 toe, was enough to retain the victim. On one 

 occasion, while a cat thus held sat looking at 

 me, it quietly reached to one side and sank its 

 teeth into the bark of a small tree to which 

 the trap was attached, and then resumed its 

 air of unconcern. 



The tiger-cat brings within our fauna an in- 

 teresting touch of the tropics and its exuber- 

 ance of animal life. It is found in so small a 

 corner of our territory, however, that, despite 

 its mainly inoiifensive habits, it is certain to be 

 crowded out in the near future by the increased 

 occupation of its haunts. 



RED FOX (Vulpes fulva and its relatives) 



Red foxes are characterized by their rusty 

 red fur, black-fronted fore legs, and white- 

 lipped tail. They inhabit the forested regions 

 in the temperate and subarctic parts of both 

 Old and New Worlds, and, like other types of 

 animal life having a wide range, they break up 

 into numerous distinct species and geographic 

 races. 



In America they originally ranged over near- 

 ly all the forested region from the northern 

 Hmit of trees in Alaska and Canada south, 

 east of the Great Plains, to Texas; also down 

 the Rocky Mountains to middle New Mexico, 

 and down the ..Sierra Nevada to the Mount 

 Whitney region- of California." They are un- 

 known on the treeless plains of the West, in- 

 cluding the Great Basin. Originally they were 

 apparently absent from the Atlantic and Gulf 

 States from Maryland to Louisiana, but have 

 since been introduced and become common 

 south to middle Georgia and Alabama. 



Wherever red foxes occur they show great 

 mental alertness and capacity to meet the re- 

 quirements of their surroundings. In New 

 England they steadily persist, though their 

 raids on poultry yards have for centuries set 

 the hand 6i mankind against them. For a 

 time conditions favored them in parts of the 

 Middle Atlantic States, for the sport of hunt- 

 ing to hounds was imported from England, and 

 the foxes had partial protection. This exotic 



