132 UP THE RIVER OF TAPIRS [chap, v 



neck skin on the farther side. It is a very efiFeetive 

 bullet. 



Miller particularly wished specimens of these various 

 species of bush-deer, because their mutual relationships 

 have not yet been satisfactorily worked out. This was 

 an old buck. The antlers were single spikes, five or 

 six inches long ; they were old and white and would 

 soon have been shed. In the stomach were the remains 

 of both leaves and grasses, but especially the former; 

 the buck was both a browser and grazer. There were 

 also seeds, but no berries or nuts such as I have some- 

 times found in deers' stomachs. This species, which is 

 abundant in this neighbourhood, is sohtary in its habits, 

 not going in herds. At this time the rut was past, the 

 bucks no longer sought the does, the fawns had not 

 been born, and the yearlings had left their mothers ; so 

 that each animal usually went by itself. AVhen chased 

 they were very apt to take to the water. This instinct 

 of taking to the water, by the way, is quite exphcable 

 as regards both deer and tapir, for it aiFords them refuge 

 against their present-day natural foes, but it is a httle 

 puzzling to see the jaguar readily climbing trees to 

 escape dogs ; for ages have passed since there were in 

 its habitat any natural foes from which it needed to seek 

 safety in trees. But it is possible that the habit has been 

 kept alive by its seeking refuge in them on occasion 

 from the big peccaries, which are among the beasts on 

 which it ordinarily preys. 



We hung the buck in a tree. The Colonel returned, 

 and not long afterward one of the paddlers who had 

 been watching the river called out to us that there was 

 a tapir in the water, a good distance up-stream, and that 

 two of the other boats were after it. We jumped into 

 the canoe, and the two paddlers dug their blades in 



