72 WILD ANIMALS. 



enough admire the suppleness of the tiger's paw, which empties 

 the double armour of the arraus as if the adhering parts of the 

 muscles had been cut by means of a surgical instrument. The 

 jaguar pursues the turtle quite -into the water, when not very 

 deep. It even digs up the eggs ; and, together with the crocodile, 

 the heron, and the gallinazo vulture, is the most cruel enemy of 

 the little turtles recently hatched." 



The Spanish naturalist, Azara,^ says, "It is very generally 

 asserted in these parts that the jaguar frequently goes into the 

 water a little way, and there discharges some saliva which attracts 

 the fish, which greedily snap at it ; when the jaguar, who is very 

 fond of them, by a stroke of his paw tosses them on the bank. 

 Various persons have assured me that they have seen them fishing 

 in this way, and have collected the fish which they have thrown 

 out; for they do not devour them immediately, but wait until 

 they have caught sufficient for a meal." 



Jaguars are rarely seen in pairs, for they are very solitary animals; 

 and, unlike the panthers of the old world, they do not kill more than 

 is actually requisite for their food. Their strength must be some- 

 thing prodigious. Again quoting Azara : " I was one day shooting 

 on the plains, when I was told that one of these animals had just 

 killed a horse. I went instantly to the spot, and found that he had 

 already commenced his repast on the breast. I did not find the 

 jaguar, so I made my people drag the horse within a stone's throw 

 of a tree, where I proposed to return after taking some refresh- 

 ment, to wait for him. I had scarcely, however, gone half a mile, 

 when the sentinel whom I left behind came up and informed me 

 that the jaguar, having swum across a broad and very deep river, 

 had taken up the carcase in his mouth, and dragging it along, 

 without any apparent efiort, for seventy paces, had re-entered 

 the river, and carried it ofE to the woods on the other side. I 

 myself saw the marks of this operation as far as the water, 

 although I did not pass over to the opposite bank, having no dog 

 with me, nor any other assistance or defence than my gun. Every 

 one in this country asserts that the jaguar drags along a dead 



' " Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and the Eiver la Plata," by 

 Don Eelix de Azara. 



