THE JAGUAR— THE COUGAR— WILD- CATS. 



711 



To attack these creatures with a lance, a sure arm, a cool, determined courage, and 

 great bodily strength and dexterity are required ; but even these qualities do not 

 always ensure success if the hunter is unacquainted with the artifices of the animal. 

 The jaguar generally waits for the attack in a sitting posture, turning one side towards 

 the assailant, and, as if unconcerned, moves his long tail to and fro. The hunter, 

 carefully observing the eye of his adversary, repeatedly menaces him with slight thrusts 

 of bis lance, which a gentle stroke of the paw playfully wards off ; then seizing a 

 favorable moment, he suddenly steps forward and plunges his weapon into his side. 

 If the thrust be well aimed, a second is not necessary, for pressing with his full weight 

 on the lance, the huntsman enlarges and deepens the mortal wound. But if the stroke 

 is parried or glances off, the jaguar, roused to fury, bounds on his aggressor, whose 

 only hope now lies in the short knife which he carries in his girdle. Those who are 

 less inclined to desperate conflicts destroy the jaguar by poisoned pieces of meat, or 

 else they lay pitfalls for him, when they kill him without running any personal risk. 



The Cougar, or the Puma, as he is called by the Indians, is far inferior to the 

 jaguar in courage, and consequently far less dangerous to man. On account of his 

 brownish-red color and great size, being the largest felis of the New World, he has 

 also been named the American lion, but he has neither the mane nor the noble bearing 

 of the " king of animals." In spite of his strength he is of so cowardly a disposition 

 that he invariably takes to flight at the approach of man, and consequently inspires no 

 fear on being met with in the wilderness ; while even the boldest hunter instinctively 

 starts back, when, winding through the forest, he suddenly sees the sparkling eye of 

 the jaguar intently fixed upon him. The puma has a much wider range than the 

 jaguar, for while the latter reaches in South America only to the forty-fifth degree of 

 latitude, and does not rove northwards beyond Sonora and New Mexico, the former 

 roams from the Straits of Magellan to the Canadian lakes. The jaguar seldom ascends 

 the mountains to a greater hight than 3,000 feet, while in the warmer lateral valleys 

 of the Andes the puma frequently lies in ambush for the vicunas at an elevation of 

 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. He can climb trees with great facility, ascend- 

 ing even vertical trunks, and, like the lynx, will watch the opportunity of springing 

 on such animals as happen to pass beneath. No less cruel than cowardly, he will 

 destroy without necessity forty or fifty sheep when the occasion offers, and content him- 

 self with licking the blood of his victims. When caught young, he is easily tamed, 

 and, like the common cat, shows his fondness at being caressed by the same kind of 

 gentle purrings. Tschudi informs us that the Indians of the northern provinces fre- 

 quently bring pumas to Lima, to show them for money. They either lead them by a 

 rope, or carry them in a sack upon their back, until the sight-seers have assembled in 

 sufficient number. 



Besides the puma or the jaguar, tropical America possesses the beautifully varie- 

 gated Ocelot {Felis pardalis) ; the Oscollo {Felis dogaster) ; the spotless, black-gray 

 Jaguarundi {F. jaguarundi), which is not much larger than the European wild-cat; 

 the long-tailed, striped, and spotted Margay, or Tiger-cat, and several other felidae. 

 All these smaller species hardly ever become dangerous to man, but they cause the 

 death of many an acouchi and cavy ; and, with prodigious leaps, the affrighted monkey 

 flies from their approach into the deepest recesses of the forest. 



