As with the other Felidæ, the only value of the dead Leopard is the price of its skin, no truly carnivorous animal being good eating; although it is related that one of the South African tribes will eat the flesh, not only of the Leopard, but even of the Hyæna, when they are hard pressed for food.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAT FAMILY—THE JAGUAR, THE SMALLER WILD CATS, THE DOMESTIC CAT.
[THE JAGUAR]—Its Character, Distribution, and Habits—Fondness for Negroes—[THE PUMA]—Its Character, Geographical Range, and Habits—Mode of Hunting the Puma—[THE OUNCE]—[THE CLOUDED TIGER]—The Character of its Fur, &c.—Its Habits—[THE OCELOT]—[THE MARBLED TIGER-CAT]—[THE VIVERRINE CAT]—[THE PAMPAS CAT]—[THE LONG-TAILED TIGER-CAT]—[THE MARGAY]—[THE COLOCOLO]—[THE JAGUARONDI]—[THE EYRA]—[THE SERVAL]—[THE RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT]—[THE LEOPARD CAT]—[THE BAY CAT]—[THE SPOTTED WILD CAT]—[THE MANUL]—[THE EGYPTIAN CAT]—[THE COMMON WILD CAT]—[THE DOMESTIC CAT]—Historical Sketch—Characters of Skin, &c.—Connection between Whiteness and Blindness—Habits—Use of Whiskers—Diet—Poaching Propensities—Fondness for Offspring—For Foster-children—Madness in Cats—Varieties—The Angora Cat, Manx Cat, Persian Cat, and Chinese Cat.
THE JAGUAR.[19]
THE Jaguar takes the place of the Leopard in America, where it is the most formidable of beasts of prey. It extends across the whole of the central part of the continent; its northern limit being the south-west boundary of the United States.
It is a slightly larger animal than the Leopard, fierce and sulky in expression, but more elegant in form, and far handsomer as to its skin. The spots are arranged in larger and more definite groups, each group consisting of a ring of well-defined black spots enclosing a space of a somewhat darker tawny than the ground-colour, in which lesser spots often occur.
The Jaguar is perhaps the fiercest-looking of all the great Cats, having an extremely ferocious expression and a horrid habit of showing its great fangs. Some time ago we were taken over the fine Lion-house in the Zoological Gardens by the Superintendent, Mr. Bartlett, to whose practical genius for everything that relates to the comfort of the animals under his charge most of the perfections of that structure are due. The little sleeping apartments at the back of the den open by iron doors into a long corridor, and in each of the doors is a small hole about the size of a penny, through which the keeper can look. Mr. Bartlett blew sharply through the hole in the den of the Jaguar’s cage, and then allowed us to look through, and there was something terrible in the way the savage beast rushed at the door, growling and “swearing” like a very large and fierce Tom Cat. Even the knowledge of the strong iron door between us and the Jaguar could not prevent us from starting back, there was something so suggestive, in the beast’s looks, of being torn to pieces and devoured.
JAGUAR.
The Jaguar is found in North and South America, extending from the Southern regions of the United States, through Mexico, Central America, and Brazil, as far south as Paraguay. Of its habits, occurrence, &c., the following interesting account is given by Mr. Darwin:[20]—