108 Lloyd's natural history. 



Throughout its range, be it north or be it south, the Puma 

 is a terrible foe to stock-raising of all kinds ; and, although in 

 North America it is reported only to attack such adult Horses 

 and cattle as are maimed, feeble, or mired, the number of 

 colts and calves it will destroy, to say nothing of Sheep, is 

 almost incredible. In South America, however, Mr. Hudscn 

 states that it not unfrequently kills full-grown Horses and 

 cattle. Pigs are likewise killed in great numbers by these 

 insatiate marauders. In certain districts, indeed, as in the 

 Shasta County Hills of California, horse-breeding became at 

 one time practically impossible owing to the ravages of Pumas ; 

 and much the same state of affairs has been reported from parts 

 of Patagonia. The enmity existing in South America between 

 the Puma and the Jaguar, and how the latter is either killed or 

 terribly mauled by its less powerful but more active antagonist, 

 has been already alluded to under the heading of the species 

 last named. 



In spite of its otherwise ferocious and bloodthirsty nature, 

 the most curious trait in the habits of the animal under con- 

 sideration is the rarity with which it attacks human beings, 

 unless driven into a corner or otherwise provoked ; this being 

 fully attested by observations made both in North and South 

 America. This, however, is not all ; for in the latter country, 

 according to Mr. Hudson, it not only never attacks Man, but 

 has been known to defend him against the assaults of other 

 animals. In countries where trees and rocks abound, it is the 

 general habit of the Puma to spring upon his prey from an 

 elevation ; and if it fails to strike its victim at the first bound, 

 the pursuit is generally at once abandoned. From an elevation 

 of twenty feet, one of these animals has been known to spring 

 upon a Deer upwards of sixty feet distant at one bound ; the 

 impetus knocking the quarry a distance of several yards 

 farther. During the winter in the Northern United States, Dr. 



