eved it could have been the jaguar. It was too small for
that. Besides a jaguar would not have been cowed and driven off by a
mule. He would more likely have killed the mule, and dragged its body
off with him across the river, or perhaps have broken into the house,
and done worse.

The animal was, no doubt, the "ocelot," which is also spotted, or rather
marked with the eye-like rosettes which distinguish the skin of the
jaguar. Indeed, there are quite a number of animals of the cat genus in
the forests of the Montana; some spotted like the leopard, others
striped as the tiger, and still others of uniform colour all over the
body. They are, of course, all preying animals, but none of them will
attack man, except the jaguar and the puma. Some of the others, when
brought to bay, will fight desperately, as would the common wild cat
under like circumstances; but the largest of them will leave man alone,
if unmolested themselves. Not so with the jaguar, who will attack either
man or beast, and put them to death, unless he be himself overpowered.

The jaguar, or, as he is sometimes called, "ounce," and by most
Spanish-Americans "tiger," is the largest and most ferocious of all the
American _Felidae_. He stands third in rank as to these qualities--the
lion and tiger of the Eastern continent taking precedence of him.
Specimens of the jaguar have been seen equal in size to the Asiatic
tiger; but the average size of the American animal is much less. He is
strong enough, however, to drag a dead horse or ox to his den--often to
a distance of a quarter of a mile--and this feat has been repeatedly
observed.

The jaguar is found throughout all the tropical countries of Spanish
America, and is oftener called tiger than jaguar. This is a misapplied
name; for although he bears a considerable likeness to the tiger, both
in shape and habits, yet the markings of his skin are quite different.
The tiger is striated or striped, while the black on the jaguar is in
beautiful eye-like rosettes. The leopard is more like the jaguar than
any other creature; and the panther and cheetah of the Eastern continent
also resemble him. The markings of the jaguar, when closely examined,
differ from all of these. The spots on the animals of the old world are
simple spots or black rings, while those of the American species are
rings with a single spot in the middle, forming _ocellae_, or eyes. Each,
in fact, resembles a rosette.

Jaguars are not always of t