THE JAGUAR. 399 



or sometimes, lying in concealment, springs out among a troop 

 of them joyously gambolling, unsuspicious of danger, when 

 their shrieks of terror and the hoarse roar of the jaguar may 

 he heard resounding through the forest. 



But where flocks and herds are collected in the neighbour- 

 hood of man's abode, the jaguar is especially dreaded, as it 

 will spring upon a horse and bring it to the ground with 

 ease ; it has been known to drag one many yards to the 

 water's side, and swim across the river with its prey, carry- 

 ing it away on the opposite side to its home in the forest. 

 Sheep and deer fall easy victims. When seizing a deer or 

 horse, it leaps on the animal's back, and grasping the head 

 with its claws, wrenches it back till the vertebrae of the neck 

 are broken. 



There are but two animals who do not fear the jaguar. 

 The great ant-eater is defended from the monster's attacks by 

 its shaggy, thick coat. It will often grasp the jaguar in its 

 powerful claws, and keep it in a close embrace, while these 

 formidable weapons tear open its side — treating it as some 

 chiefs in India were in the habit of treating their guests, whom 

 they pretended to receive with an embrace of friendship, 

 their hands armed with the steel-formed claws in imitation of 

 those of tigers. Though the savage little peccaries, when 

 caught singly, are quickly despatched by the jaguar, yet 

 when meeting it collected in a herd, they so fiercely assault it 

 with their sharp tusks, that it is either pierced to death in 

 spite of the blows of its claws, or compelled to take to flight. 



It catches fish as it does the manatee, suddenly thrusting 

 forth its talons as they pass below it ; while it scrapes up 

 the turtle's eggs in numbers. It even pounces on birds and 

 lizards, in spite of their activity and means of escape ; and, 



