“The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the favourite haunts of the Jaguar; but south of the Plata, I was told that they frequented the reeds bordering lakes. Wherever they are, they seem to require water. Their common prey is the Capybara, so that it is generally said, where Capybaras are numerous there is little danger from the Jaguar. Falconer states that near the southern side of the mouth of the Plata there are many Jaguars, and that they chiefly live on fish. This account I have heard repeated. On the Paranà they have killed many wood-cutters, and have even entered vessels at night. There is a man now living in Bajada, who, coming up from below when it was dark, was seized on the deck; he escaped, however, with the loss of the use of one arm. When the floods drive these animals from the islands, they are most dangerous. I was told that, a few years since, a very large one found its way into a church at Santa Fé: two padres entering one after the other were killed, and a third, who came to see what was the matter, escaped with difficulty. The beast was destroyed by being shot from a corner of the building, which was unroofed. They commit also at these times great ravages among Horses and cattle. It is said that they kill their prey by breaking their necks. If driven from the carcass, they seldom return to it. The Gauchos say that the Jaguar, when wandering about at night, is much tormented by the Foxes yelping as they follow him. This is a curious coincidence with the fact which is generally affirmed of the Jackals accompanying, in a similarly officious manner, the East Indian Tiger. The Jaguar is a noisy animal, roaring much by night, and especially before bad weather. One day, when hunting on the banks of the Uruguay, I was shown certain trees to which these animals constantly recur for the purpose, as it is said, of sharpening their claws. I saw three well-known trees; in front, the bark was worn smooth as if by the breast of the animal, and on each side there were deep scratches, or rather grooves, extending in an oblique line, nearly a yard in length. The scars were of different ages. A common method of ascertaining if a Jaguar is in the neighbourhood is to examine these trees. I imagine this habit of the Jaguar is exactly similar to one which may any day be seen in the common Cat, as with outstretched legs and exserted claws it scrapes the leg of a chair; and I have heard of young fruit-trees in an orchard in England having been thus much injured. Some such habit must also be common to the Puma, for on the bare hard soil of Patagonia I have frequently seen scores so deep that no other animal could have made them. The object of this practice is, I believe, to tear off the ragged points of their claws, and not, as the Gauchos think, to sharpen them. The Jaguar is killed, without much difficulty, by the aid of Dogs baying and driving him up a tree, where he is despatched with bullets.”
It has been stated that great contests take place between the Jaguars and the Alligators which frequent the rivers of the regions in which the great Cat lives. It is said that the Jaguar is fully a match for the Alligator on land, while in the water the reptile has usually the best of it. The tale must, however, be taken cum grano salis. A very curious fact is mentioned by Brehm, namely, that the Jaguar always attacks Negroes and Indians in preference to whites, and that a white man, obliged to sleep in the open air in a dangerous locality, always feels perfectly safe if accompanied by natives. It is thought that this is probably due to the strong odour which characterises the skin of the Negro and other dark races. As tending to confirm this extraordinary statement, we may mention an anecdote told us by the late Prof. P. M. Duncan, F.R.S., of the behaviour of the great Felidæ at the Zoological Gardens towards coloured people. Every one must have noticed the calm, supercilious, way in which those grand creatures regard the visitors to their abode, seeming to look on them as beings of an inferior race come to pay rightful homage to strength and beauty; except at feeding-time, they seem hardly to give a thought to the admiring crowds in their house of reception, but pace regularly up and down their dens, or sit with paws thrust out between the bars, stolidly gazing. Several years ago, however, when the Prince of Wales’s Indian animals were exhibited at the Gardens, a little black boy, one of the attendants attached to the collection, often passed through the Lion-house; and when he did so, every Cat in the place started to its feet, and rushed to the bars of its cage with great demonstrations of anger and ferocity. They evidently felt that here, at least, was one of the black, two-legged animals on which their fathers and grandfathers had fed from time immemorial, and that now was their time to strike for a pleasant change of diet, after the monotony of beef bones, ignominiously cut up and parcelled out to them.
THE PUMA.[21]
The Puma, or “South American Lion,” is the second great American Carnivore. It occurs far more widely spread in the continent than the Jaguar, ranging from the cold regions of the Strait of Magellan up to 50° or 60° north latitude. In appearance it is not unlike a small Lioness, having a tint somewhat similar to the characteristic tawny colour of the monarch of Africa, but darker, greyer, and less rich; the mane, too, is absent. Its head is proportionally, as well as absolutely, much smaller than that of the Lion; its face is rounder, and it is altogether a much smaller beast: its average size being about thirty-nine or forty inches from the snout to the root of the thick, strong tail, the latter again being some twenty-five or twenty-six inches long, and the height about the same. Indistinct spots occur, as in the Lion, on the belly and the inside of the legs. The hind-quarters are very large, and are kept higher than the shoulders in walking. The skin beneath the belly is remarkably loose and pendulous.
Unlike the Jaguar, the Puma avoids water, although well able to swim when necessary. It is as much at home in trees as on solid ground, and is a terror to the Capuchin and other Monkeys which abound in the forests of South America. It is, however, a far more cowardly animal than the Jaguar, and is not feared by the natives to anything like the same degree. Mr. Darwin, who had ample opportunity of observing its habits, writes thus of it in his “Naturalist’s Voyage”:—
“This animal has a wide geographical range, being found from the equatorial forests, throughout the deserts of Patagonia, as far south as the damp and cold latitudes (53° to 54°) of Tierra del Fuego. I have seen its footsteps in the Cordillera of Central Chili, at an elevation of at least 10,000 feet. In La Plata the Puma preys chiefly on Deer, Ostriches, Bizcacha, and other quadrupeds. It there rarely attacks cattle or Horses, and most rarely man. In Chili, however, it destroys other quadrupeds. I heard, likewise, of two men and a woman who had been thus killed. It is asserted that the Puma always kills its prey by springing on the shoulders, and then drawing back the head with one of its paws until the vertebræ break. I have seen, in Patagonia, the skeletons of Guanacos, with their necks thus dislocated.
“The Puma, after eating its fill, covers the carcass with many large bushes, and lies down to watch it. This habit is often the cause of its being discovered; for the Condors, wheeling in the air, every now and then descend to partake of the feast; and being angrily driven away, rise all together on the wing. The Chileno Guaso then knows there is a Lion [Puma] watching his prey; the word is given, and men and Dogs hurry to the chase. Sir F. Head says that a Gaucho in the Pampas, upon merely seeing some Condors wheeling in the air, cried, ‘A Lion!’ I could never myself meet with any one who pretended to such powers of discrimination. It is asserted that if a Puma has once been betrayed by thus watching a carcass, and has then been hunted, it never resumes this habit, but that having gorged itself, it wanders far away. The Puma is easily killed. In an open country it is first entangled with the bolas,[22] then lazoed, and dragged along the ground till rendered insensible. At Tandil (south of the Plata), I was told that within three months one hundred were thus destroyed. In Chili they are generally driven up bushes or trees, and are then either shot or baited to death by Dogs. The Dogs employed in this chase belong to a particular breed, called ‘Leoneros.’ They are weak, slight animals, like long-legged Terriers, but are born with a peculiar instinct for this sport. The Puma is described as being very crafty. When pursued it often returns on its former track, and then suddenly making a spring on one side, waits there till the Dogs have passed by. It is a very silent animal, uttering no cry even when wounded, and only rarely during the breeding season.”
The comparative silence of the Puma is very noticeable in the specimens at the Zoological Gardens. They never roar like other large Cats, never, in fact, getting beyond a sort of hoarse grunt; but when angry, they spit and “swear” in precisely the same manner as furious Tom Cats. In this respect they differ very markedly from the Lion and Tiger, and agree with the lesser Cats, such as the Ocelot, Serval, Lynx, &c.