THE TAYRA.[176]
This animal may be considered without exaggeration to be one of the ugliest in the whole Carnivorous order. It is not unlike the Marten in shape, but of a dark brown colour, and with a low, villainous, and almost debauched expression of face. The head and body together attain a length of rather more, the tail of rather less, than half a yard. The colour of the pelage is dark blackish-brown, becoming lighter on the head and neck, on the under surface of which there is a yellowish spot. It is found, like the Grison, in South America, where it extends from Brazil and British Guiana in the north to Paraguay in the south.
It lives in forests, preying upon small mammals and birds, and does its hunting chiefly in the morning, starting for work at sunrise, and returning about midday.