Animal Planet — "Pets of Honduras"

1896

Honduras seems a paradise for pets. Parrots of every size, from that of a sparrow to the great green macaw, three feet long or more, can clamber all over and about the house and never know a cage. Chachalacas trot through the patios or courts of the houses in the towns, and bitterns stalk disconsolate about. Fawns and children play together in many a yard, and coons and sometimes an armadillo are playmates for little ones who have few dolls. In the Sambo hamlet of Ulun, a tame anteater was offered to me, and while we talked of it, a woman came in leading a gibeonite which took occasion to nibble its owner's bare heels while she bargained.

As I lay in a hammock in a Waikna hut one day, a peccary came within my reach. With a convenient stick I ventured to scratch his brown and bristly back. Down he flopped on his side and grunted in sweet content as long as the tickling went on. From that moment he was my ardent, much too ardent friend and faithful follower. I could not go ten steps without finding him at my heels, and his jealousy was as instant as it was fierce. Woe to the dog that dared come near me. A sudden rush, a quick upward thrust of those gleaming tusks and there was a bleeding gash in that dog's quarters, if he was not agile beyond the average of dogs. And the snapping of those tusks had a sound that was most suggestive, particularly to a white man groping in the dark for the olla that holds the drink. Peccaries are not really the nicest of pets for people whose visitors are nervous. — Outing.