146 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



Next to the Jaguar, the Cougar is the largest 

 of the American Cats. In color it is a tawny 

 brown, becoming lighter on the lower surface, 

 and without any spots at all. But the odd thing 

 is that its young are marked all over with large 

 blotches of blackish brown, while their tails are 

 ringed with black like that of the Tiger. And 

 these markings do not disappear until the animal 

 is more than six months old. 



The Cougar is found in western parts of the 

 American continent, from British Columbia in 

 the north to Patagonia in the south, and it is 

 even said to have been seen in Tierra del Fuego. 

 Being so widely distributed it rejoices in several 



eyes, muscles and sinews like coiled springs of 

 steel wire, the hate of a demon, a cvmning that 

 surpasseth understanding, viciousness personi- 

 fied, all wrapped up in a tawny reddish coat end- 

 ing in a long, cylindrical, nervous tail ; this is the 

 American Mountain Lion. This big Cat. one of 

 the largest of the American varieties, averages 

 forty inches from nose to root of tail, and the 

 latter is more than half the length of the body. 

 He is sleek and thin of flank, graceful and wil- 

 lowy of movement, and anything but pretty to 

 the eye. No mane adorns his shoulders, no 

 stripes relieve his coat, his belly fur is usually a 

 dirtv white, his ears are large and round, and his 



Photograph by Daniel J. Singer 



COUGAR 



Quick, alert, and agile in its actions, this big Cat is powerful enough to be dangerous to man — but as a 



matter of fact, it is slinking and cowardly 



names. In the Northwest they call it the 

 " Mountain Lion," in the Southwest the " Cou- 

 gar ;" the Mexicans and South Americans know 

 it by the sobriquet " Puma ; ' to the naturalist 

 it is Felis several things ; J. Fenimore Cooper 

 names it the " Varmint," and in the Gulf States 

 it answers to the chill-producing name of " Pan- 

 ther," while the early settlers in the East called 

 it the " Catamount." and the " Painter :" but 

 whatever the name, and whatever the locality, it 

 is one and the same Cat. 



Mr. Edward Ferguson thus describes him : 

 " A massive broad flat head, malignant yellow 



only ornament is a little tuft of hair at the end 

 of his tail. 



" His range is greater than that of any other 

 member of the Cat family and extends for over 

 a hundred degrees of latitude, from Northern 

 Canada to the Argentine, and before civilization 

 drove them back they were found from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific in considerable numbers. 

 Hardy and tenacious, capable of adapting them- 

 selves to all conditions of climate, good foragers 

 and clever thieves, they have not entirely given 

 way in the West Virginia and Kentucky moun- 

 tains and in the woods of Maine. In the Rockies, 



