G02 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



attacks only the young, but he will carry away a full-grown sheep from 

 the fold,* and not unfreqnently preys upon the llama in South America.! 



In the less settled portions of America the Puma has proved at times 

 a great hindrance to stock raising.! Kennerly states that in Sonora, 

 Mexico, it kills many colts and calves, and is poisoned with strychnine 

 by the herdsmen. § Mr. C. H. Townsend remarks in 1887 : "It is practi- 

 cally impossible to raise colts in the Shasta County hills, California, 

 on account of these pests. They destroy many hogs and young cattle 

 also, but do not present so serious an impediment to the keeping of 

 these animals as in the case of horses." || I have recently received sim- 

 ilar reports from other sources. 



The Puma does not ordinarily attack men, but ou the coutrary when 

 surprised attempts to flee from them. Nevertheless it seems probable 

 that some individuals, when strongly pressed by hunger, or moved by 

 other unusual circumstances, may be emboldened to make such attacks. 

 Hensel affirms that such is the case.ff Darwin states that he had heard 

 of two men and a woman who were killed by Pumas in Chili.** Mc- 

 Murtrie mentions that a woman was killed by a Puma in Pennsylvania, 

 January, 1830. tt That the Puma sometimes kills the hunter who has 



* See Azara, Quadnipedos del Paraguay, i, 1802, p. 208; Williams, History of Ver- 

 mont, 1794, pp. 36-87. 



tit appears that the Puma received permission to kill llamas from the god Coni- 

 raya. The tale of Coniraya's pursuit of the beautiful Cavillaca is thus narrated by 

 Avila: " The god weut on and met a lion, which in reply to his question told him 

 that he was very near the goddess Cavillaca, and that if he made a little more 

 haste he would overtake her. This good news pleased the sage, and he blessed the 

 lion saying : ' You shall be respected and feared by all, and I assign to you the office 

 of punisher and executioner of evil doers; you may eat the Hamas of sinners, and after 

 your death you shall still be honored ; for when they kill you and take your skin 

 they shall do so without cutting off the head, which they shall preserve, with the 

 teeth, and eyes shall be put in the sockets so as to appear to be still alive. Your feet 

 shall remain haugingfrom the skin with the tail, and, above all, those who kill you 

 shall wear your head over their own, and your skin shall cover them. This shall 

 they do at their principal festivals, so that you shall receive honor from them. I 

 further decree that he who would adorn himself with your skin must kill a llama on 

 the occasion, and then dance and sing with you on his back." <^Narrative of Errors, 

 False Rites, etc., of the Iudiaus of Huarochiri, collected by Franciso de Avila. 

 Hakluyt Soc, xlviii, 1873. (Edited by C. R. Markham.) 



t Burmeister, Descr. Physique de la R6pub. Argentine, in, 1879, p. 131. 



§ U. S. Mex. Bound. Survey, Pt. n, Mammals, 1859, p. 5. 



||Proc. U. S. National Museum, 1887, p. 189. See also Forest and Stream, xxxv, 

 1890, p. 312. 



If Fide Brehm, Saiigethiere, i, 1876, p. 382. 



** Voyage of the Beagle, p. 2(59. 



+t Commenting on Cuvier's statement, he remarks; "That this animal, our com- 

 mon panther, does not always confine itself to sheep, etc., is well known, and has 

 lately been proved, January, 1830, by an unprovoked attack upon an unfortunate 

 woman in Pennsylvania. The ferocious brute seized upon her as she was passing 

 along the road, and killed her in an instant." (McMurtrie, Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, 

 I, 1831, p. 115.) 



