234 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



" Trumpeter was bandaged up and cured after a 

 while, but it was months before he would go near the 

 cat skin, which lay on the back of the parlor sofa. 

 The kittens soon grew very sly and vicious, and father 

 gave them to a travelling showman who came to East 

 Village." 



" Where do Wildcats live now ? " asked Kap. 



" They are scattered quite evenly over the wilder parts 

 of the middle country from the south up, haunting 

 places wdiere small Mammals or game birds can be had, 

 but they are nowhere common enough to cause trouble." 



"Now the nicest cat picture of all," said Rap, "the 

 Puma and the Elk. The Puma doesn't look much like 

 a Cat — is more like the postmaster's old lean mastiff." 



" You make a good comparison there, m}' boy," said 

 the Doctor ; " except that it has shorter legs and larger 

 feet, and a tuft on the end of its tail, this Puma is very 

 much the same size and color as that dog. 



" Imagine an animal like old ]Max weighing from 150 

 to 200 pounds, with the spring and strength of a bundle 

 of steel springs, feet heavy enough to fell a man with a 

 blow, and armed with the most powerful movable claws. 

 Having more leaping agility than any American four- 

 foot, clearing twenty feet easily on a level, and in a 

 downward leap able to cover sixty feet, and you will 

 have a picture of the Puma, as the Wise Men prefer to 

 call him, though he is known in different parts of the 

 country as Panther, Mountain Lion, and Cougar. The 

 Puma varies very much in size, those found in the south 

 being larger than their northerly brothers."' 



"Why is that?" asked Rap. "Among Wolves the 

 northerly ones were the biggest." 



