I0 6 LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



on the summit of Mount Persephone, in California, at an ele- 

 vation of 3,000 feet. Similarly, Darwin states that he saw the 

 footprints of the Puma on the Cordillera of Central Chili at 

 an elevation of at least 10,000 feet. According to Tschudi, 

 the Puma is found in Peru in the highest forests, and even to 

 the snow-line, although seldom at the latter level." And it has 

 been stated that the animal is still common in the forests of 

 Central America at a height of from 8,000 to 9,000 feet above 

 the sea-level. 



Wherever it be situated, however, the Puma' always selects 

 for its lair the most sheltered and solitary situations; in wooded 

 districts generally frequenting thick bushes and copses, rather 

 than tall forests. Such spots as have rocks, with crevices and 

 caverns well-suited for the maternal requirements, are, however, 

 those most favoured. Although occasionally hunting its prey 

 by day, the Puma is mainly nocturnal in its habits, especially 

 in thickly populated districts, where constant persecution has 

 taught it the prudence of caution ; and its favourite times for 

 being on the prowl are evening and early dawn. When sup- 

 plies are abundant, it is stated to drink only the blood of its 

 victims, although this statement stands, perhaps, in need of 

 confirmation, and it will frequently kill far more than it can 

 possibly consume, a case being recorded where no less than 

 half-a-hundred sheep were destroyed in the course of one night 

 by a single Puma. With such a bloodthirsty and destructive 

 disposition, it is little wonder that the animal is detested by all 

 settlers in the districts it frequents, and persecuted by them 

 with unrelenting pertinacity. The cubs, which in the wild 

 state vary from two to five in number, although in captivity 

 there are generally two, but occasionally one, are produced in 

 some secure and sequestered situation, varying locally accord- 

 ing to the nature of the country. In the Adirondack Moun- 

 tains of New York, for instance, the breeding-lair is generally 



