131 



Perhaps there is no carnivorous animal of the same size iincl 

 genus, with the exception of the cheetah, that can leap so far for a 

 number of consecutive bounds as can the couorar. A full grown one 

 can leap twenty feet and upwards at each bound, for a distance of one 

 hundred yards or more. I can readily ciedit this, when I know from 

 personal observation, that the largo wiry-haired Scotch staghound can 

 cover twenty feet at each stride, and keep up the pace for a couple of 

 miles. A large Virginian deer can leap from seventeen to twenty feet 

 and keep up the gait for a considerable distance, when freshly started, 

 -with the matchless chorus of the hounds behind him. About six years 

 ago, I had the curiosity to measure a single bound of a fine spike 

 horned buck, after it had rushed down the steep side of one of our own 

 Lauren tian hills before the hounds; and I found that, from the spot 

 from whence it had' started to the point where its fore feet struck the 

 earth again, the distance was one humlred and eleven feet, or thirty - 

 S)ven y.ir.ls. The do cea'} Oi- grade was, of course, excjedingly 

 steep. 



I have heard many an exciting story, and read many a thijlling 

 account, of the blood-curdling scream of the panther, or, as this animal 

 has been frequently called, the "catamount," but I have never seen 

 one in the act of screaming, or under any other circumstances except in 

 a menagerie. On two or three occasions, many years ago, I heard, in 

 the thick forest near the Village of Kichmond, and afterwards in the 

 Township of Huntley, some strangely startling and frightful screams, 

 which I then attributed to the cougar. Be this as it may, I have heard 

 no screams of the same kind for the last thirty years. 



Being always fond of music, I soon learned, not, however, with- 

 out some trouble, to imitate the terror-striking scream of the cata. 

 mount ; and having been given to harmless practical joking, I have 

 frequently accelerated the gait of nocturnal travellers, and had the 

 pleasure aftei'wards to listen to their exaggerated accounts of narrow 

 escapes. It never required more than two good yells to put the boldest 



to flight. -i * ' ; * 



I think I have now told you all I know concerning the cougar. 

 Tf I have entertained any of my hearers, or, better still have instructed 

 any in the smallest degree, I shall consider myself amply rewarded for 



