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第4章 斩林轩

The Jaguar is generally said to be quite untameable, and to maintain his savage ferocity even in a state of captivity, showing no symptoms of attachment to those[48] who have the care of him. This assertion is amply contradicted by the fact that an individual confined in the Paris Menagerie, was exceedingly mild in his temper, and particularly fond of licking the hands of those with whom he was familiar; as was also remarkably the case with the specimen lately in the Tower, whose portrait ornaments the present article. This animal was obtained by Lord Exmouth while on the American station, and accompanied the expedition to Algiers at the memorable bombardment of that nest of pirates. On his return to England, his Lordship gave it to the Marchioness of Londonderry, who soon afterwards presented it to his Majesty, by whose order it was placed in the Tower; where it continued until a short time since, when it unfortunately died. Mr. Cops is, however, in expectation of being soon enabled to replace it. It was exh

This tremendous animal appears to be most commonly found in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, especially on the well wooded plains which skirt the eastern declivity of that lofty and extensive range, among thick copses of brush and underwood, and on the banks of the water-courses which descend in innumerable petty streams from their sources in the hills. In these wild solitudes, rarely trodden by the foot of civilized man, and visited only by the savage Indians of the neighbouring tribes, who have not yet learned to bow the neck beneath the yoke of the exterminating conqueror, he reigns the almost undisputed tyrant of the forest. Few among the animals which share with him his barbarous habitation are fleet enough to escape him in the chase; and none, when fairly placed within his reach, are powerful enough to withstand his overwhelming force. Even the sturdy and formidable Bison, the wild bull of North America, is incapable of offering any effectual resistance to the furious impetuosity of his attack;

Nothing in fact can exceed the terror which this formidable animal inspires in those countries which are liable to his devastations. More restricted, however, in this respect than the Lion, he is entirely unknown in Africa, and is rarely, if ever, to be met with in Asia on this side the Indus. In the south of China, and in the larger Asiatic Islands, such as Sumatra and Java, he is unhappily but too common; but it is said, we know not with what degree of truth, that in the last mentioned locality he is less ferocious than in the Peninsula of Hindostan. This is truly the cradle of his existence and the seat of his empire, in which he disputes dominion even with the Lion himself, who is comparatively rare in the Indian jungles, and with whom the Tiger has been sometimes known to join in deadly and successful struggle for the mastery. Endowed with a degree of force, which the Lion and the Elephant alone can equal, he carries off a buffalo in his tremendous jaws, almost without relaxing from his usual speed. With

But the presence of this one anomalous characteristic is accompanied by so many striking discrepancies in other parts, that, limited as this tribe is in number, most of the principal forms of Mammalia find analogous representations among its groups. Thus the Opossums exhibit characters in some measure intermediate between the Quadrumana and the Carnivora, to which latter the Dasyuri, another Marsupial group, closely resembling the Civets in form and habits, approach very nearly; while the herbivorous races of the tribe might occupy a station between the Rodent and Ruminant Orders, with each of which they exhibit various degrees of relationship. This want of uniformity in the essential parts of their organization necessarily gives rise to much difficulty in determining their position in the system. The mode of classification now most generally followed is perhaps, under all the circumstances, the best that could at the present moment be adopted; although it must be owned that the purely herbivorous species arr

alternating with an equal number of grayish.

THE DEEP BLUE MACAW.

The other individual at present in the Tower is a Tigress of great beauty from Bengal, scarcely a twelvemonth[34] old, who also promises to become an exceedingly fine animal. During her passage from Calcutta she was allowed to range about the vessel unrestricted, became perfectly familiar with the sailors, and showed not the slightest symptom of ferocity. On her arrival, however, in the Thames, the irritation produced by the sight of strangers completely and instantly changed her temper, rendering her irascible and dangerous. Her deportment was so sulky and savage that Mr. Cops could scarcely be prevailed on by her former keeper, who saw her shortly afterwards, to allow him to enter her den: but no sooner did she recognise her old friend, than she fawned upon him, licked him, and caressed him, exhibiting the most extravagant signs of pleasure; and when he left her she cried and whined for the remainder of the day. To her new residence and her new keeper she is now perfectly reconciled.

Ursus (Helarctos) euryspilus. Horsf.

Such, indeed, is the outline which we have been taught to frame to ourselves of this noble animal; and beautifully has this imaginary sketch, for such in a great measure it will be found on closer examination, been filled up by the magic pencil of Buffon, who, in this, as in too many other instances, suffered himself to be borne along by the strong tide of popular opinion. Yielding to the current, instead of boldly stemming it, he has added the weighty sanction of his authority to those erroneous notions which were already consecrated by their antiquity, and has produced a history of the Lion, which, however true in its main facts, and however eloquent in its details, is, to say the least, highly exaggerated and delusive in its colouring. The Lion of Buffon is, in fact, the Lion of popular prejudice; it is not the Lion, such as he appears to the calm observer, nor such as he is delineated in the authentic accounts of those naturalists and travellers who have had the best means of observing his habits, and rec