THE rUMA, OK AMERICAN LION. 605 



the bare, hard soil of Patagonia I have frequently seen scores so deep 

 that no other animal could have made them."* 



Many reliable authorities are agreed that the Puma does not ordi- 

 narily emit loud cries or screams,! but Kenuerly, one of the naturalists of 

 the Mexican boundary survey, states that on one or two occasions the 

 cry of the Puma was heard at a distance, and Schotb writes as follows : 

 " After dark his mournful note is heard resounding through the soli- 

 tudes of the deserts. The note, listened to once attentively, is apt to make 

 a deep, lasting impression. The different native names, as pronounced 

 in Spanish, sound very appropriately to the note, and it is likely that 

 the cry of the animal forms the base of its names. The note itself is 

 often several times repeated, with intervals of from two to four minutes. 

 As night advances the cry is heard but rarely. " £ Bo also writes : " A 

 Puma was killed on the Rio Bravo, between Fort Duncan and Laredo. 

 During his struggle with the hunters and dogs he raised a terrible cry, 

 twice or thrice, to express his rage, and perhaps also to give his family 

 the notice of danger. " || Dr. J. A. Allen reports that he once heard 

 the Puma's cry near his camp in Montgomery, Colorado.§ Eliot likewise 

 states that he heard the cry of the puma at night, while camping on 

 the St. John's Kiver, Florida. He did not, however see the animal.ff 

 Darwin states that the Puma does not often utter cries. He writes: 

 " It is a very silent animal, uttering no cry, even when wounded, and 

 only rarely during the breeding season.** 



In captivity the Puma purrs when pleased, after the manner of the 

 cat, and the female has been heard to utter a mewing sound. ft 



The flesh of the Puma is eaten by certain of the South American 



* Voyage of the Beagle, p. 136. Darwin is of the opinion that this practice is in- 

 dulged in for the purpose of tearing away the ragged poiuts of the claws, and not 

 for sharpening them. 



t See Merriam, c. 1., p. 37. Audubon & Bachman, 1. c, p. 311. 



tU. S. Mex. Bound. .Survey, PL n, Mammals, 1859, p. <>. 



JL. c. 



§ Ball. Essex Inst., VI, 1*74, p. 53. 



IT D. G. Eliot, Monograph of the Felidae, 1883, p. 72. See also Suckley, Nat. Hist, 

 of Washington Territory, 1859, p. 108. 



** Voyage of the Beagle,]). 279. 



tt A tame Puma was kept by Edmund Kean, the actor, as a pet. Its skeleton is now 

 in the Museum of tin- Royal College, of Surgeons in London. Jardine gives some 

 particulars about this individual. "The celebrated Kean possessed one which fol- 

 lowed him loose, and was often introduced to company in his drawing room. We 

 have frequently been in company with the animal which served for the accompany- 

 ing illustration. It was extremely gentle and playful, and showed no symptoms of 

 ferocity to the strangers who came to see it. Its motions were-all free and graceful, 

 and it exhibited the greatest agility in leaping and swinging about the joists of a 

 large unoccupied room in the old college of Edinburgh." 



"While in London," observed Mr. Wilson, "it made its escape into the street dur- 

 ing the night, toil allowed itself to be taken up by a watchman, without offering 

 even a. show of resistance." — Naturalists' Library, xvi, p. 113. 



