ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
5 
nearly to its top. After a chase of an hour or 
so the dogs bring them to bay in some pool of 
water in the innumerable mountain streams, 
where they will fight to a finish. They will 
charge either man or dog, and are of course 
dangerous. They kill more dogs in this locality 
than any other animal that is hunted. The 
thing to do is not to shoot until one can get a 
sure shot into the head, and kill the animal in¬ 
stantly, as the dogs all pitch right in as soon as 
the shot is fired. Should the tapir not be 
shot, it means that some of the dogs are badly 
injured, or killed. Nearly all animals run by 
dogs and brought to bay will fight. 
Tapirs like the dense forest. I have seen only 
one out in the open. They trample down the 
underbrush and leave a big plain trail, and of 
course they leave plenty of scent for dogs. Good 
cur dogs are better than hounds for this hunting 
as they run faster and they do not bark so much 
as a hound, so that the quarry will be brought to 
bay in a shorter time. Of course you lose the 
music of the pack hounds, which to me is more 
than half of the sport. 
They have one young at a time, which is 
spotted something like a fawn. The small spe¬ 
cies of tapir I have not seen up here in these 
mountains, though I am told by native hunters 
that they are found in other parts of the coun¬ 
try. In Guatemala and Mexico where I hunted 
for many years I never saw any other than the 
small species. 
The skin of the tapir is very thick, but strange 
to say it is never exported. The natives cut it up 
into strips of about two inches wide, then twist 
them into whip stocks. As soon as the skin is 
dry, it becomes hard and stiff. 
The meat of the tapir is not good, rather in¬ 
sipid I find it, and only certain parts are used. 
Of course it is fine to feed to the hounds. 
Peccary: The collared peccary is very abun¬ 
dant here in Boquete and much sought after by 
the natives. They prefer the flesh of the 
peccaries to venison. 
Peccaries are hunted with dogs very much in 
the same way as the tapir, only the peccary will 
take to a cave or a hollow log after a run of from 
thirty minutes to one hour. 
There is no animal that fights more savagely 
than a peccary. The only way to make him quit 
is to kill him. It is necessary to make a sure 
shot or otherwise you will have your dogs cut 
up. It is just as quick as any cat—so look out. 
The peccary is often found in second growth 
where the forest lias been cut down for plant- 
OCELOT 
Found in Southern Texas, Central America and 
Northern Soutli America 
COLLARED PECCARY AND YOUNG 
Peccaries are most satisfactory animals in 
captivity 
JAGUAR 
This is tlie largest and most powerful of all the 
American cat animals 
