134 COATI.

know not on what authority. Azara does not allude to
this partiality; it is, however, far from being improbable.
In climbing they descend head foremost, being in this
respect unlike the bear, which animal they far surpass
in activity, being indeed better climbers than even the
cat, and exceeded among their own tribe only by the
kinkajon, whose prehensile tail gives it a great advan-
tage. In their native climate thev tenant the woods,
living for the most part in small troops among the
trees, which they climb with great address, and prey
upon birds, which they surprise, rifling also their nest of
eggs, or the unfledged young.”

In colour, different individuals of this species vary very
considerably, the general brown colour being more or less
tinged with yellow, and in some shaded with black. The
tail is ringed with black and yellow, and is naturally
longer than the body, but is not unfrequently shortened
by the animal itself eating off a considerable portion of
the end of it. The proverb truly says that there is no
accounting for tastes; and the writer himself once knew
a little terrier dog to devour the end of its own tail
immediately after it had been chopped off.