74 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



Zoological Gardens, nor have any of the few specimens which have live'd 

 there survived very long. 



It may be thought that the foggy atmosphere of London, so different 

 from the pure clear mountain air of the Ounce's natural haunts, may 

 be accountable for this, but in that case it is curious that the animal's 

 frequent prey, the Burrhel, stands the same conditions so well, for this 

 Sheep thrives and breeds well in the Regent's Park Gardens. 



The Ounce appears to be fairly tameable, and Captain Baldwin, in 

 his work "The Large and Small Game of Bengal and the North-Western 

 Provinces of India," gives an interesting account of a young one which 

 <ame into his possession when he was in Tibet, in a rather curious way. 

 He found that one of the local Tibetans had killed a female Ounce by rolling 

 a big stone down on the unfortunate beast as she lay asleep in the sun 

 outside her den, and some days later came across one of her cubs, being 

 led to the discovery by a pair of large birds which were mobbing it. 

 The poor creature was nearly starved, being evidently unable to pro- 

 vide for itself, although about as big- as a Lynx, and was not captured 

 without some difficulty, and at the cost of a good many scratches. 

 However, in ten days, although much stronger, it had become accustomed 

 to sleeping on the bed of its owner, who considered that it would have 

 in time become quite tame; but unfortunately it died quite suddenly, 

 and was suspected to have been poisoned by his native servants to 

 avoid the trouble it gave them. 



THE JAGUAR 



{Felis onca) 



Although living at the other side of the world, and not next door to 

 the Leopard, as it were, as the Ounce does, this great American Cat is 

 ■so like the former animal that at the first glance it is likely to be passed 

 over as the same species. Closer comparison, however, shows that the 

 Jaguar's rosettes of spots have for the most part an extra dot in the 

 ^centre, which is wanting in those of the Leopard ; the American animal 



