The Great Ant-Bear is found in all the warm and tropical parts of South America, from Colombia to Paraguay, and from the shores of the Atlantic to the foot of the Andes. His favourite resorts are the low, swampy savannahs, along the banks of rivers and stagnant ponds. He is found also frequenting the humid forests, but never climbing trees, as falsely reported by Buffon, on the authority of La Borde. His pace is slow, heavy, and hesitating; his head is carried low, as if he smelled the ground at every step, whilst his long, shaggy tail, drooping behind him, sweeps the ground on each side, and readily indicates his path to the hunter; though, when hard pressed, he increases his pace to a slow gallop, yet his greatest velocity never half equals the ordinary running of a man. So great is his stupidity, that those who encounter him in the woods or plains may drive him before them by merely pushing him with a stick, so long, at least, as he is not compelled to proceed beyond a moderate gallop; but if pressed too hard, or urged to extremity, he turns obstinate, sits up on his hind quarters like a Bear, and defends himself with his powerful claws. Like that animal, his usual, and indeed only, mode of assault is by seizing his adversary with his fore paws, wrapping his arms round him, and endeavouring by this means to squeeze him to death. His great strength and powerful muscles would easily enable him to accomplish his purpose in this respect, even against the largest animals of his native forests, were it but guided by ordinary intelligence, or accompanied with a common degree of activity. But in these qualities there are few animals, indeed, which do not greatly surpass the Ant-Bear, so that the different stories handed down by writers on natural history from one to another, and copied, without question, into the histories and descriptions of this animal, may be regarded as pure fiction. For this statement we have the express authority of Don Felix d’Azara, an excellent observer and credible writer, from whose “Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay” we have derived the greater portion of the preceding account of the habits and economy of this extraordinary animal. “It is supposed,” says Don Felix, “that the Jaguar himself dares not attack the Ant-Bear, and that if, pressed by hunger, or under some other excitement, he does so, the Ant-Bear hugs him and embraces him so tightly, as very soon to deprive him of life, not even relaxing his hold for hours after life has been extinguished by his assailant. It is very certain that such is the manner in which the Ant-eater defends himself; but it is not to be believed that his utmost efforts could prevail against the Jaguar, which, by a single bite or blow of his paw, could kill the Ant-eater before he was prepared for resistance; for even in so extreme a case, his motions are so slow and so heavy, that he takes some time to get himself ready, and besides