THE PUMA. T09 



Hart Merriam observes that " under certain conditions of the 

 deep snows the Deer cut in so deeply that the poor animals 

 can make but slow progress. At such times a Puma, by 

 spreading the toes of his great broad paws, simulates a man 

 on snow-shoes, and sinks but a short distance in the snow. 

 He then gains a vital advantage over his prey, and will now 

 give chase to and capture one that he missed at his first spring. 

 Under no other circumstance will a Puma pursue a Deer, for 

 he is too well aware of the uselessness of an attempt to over- 

 take so fleet an animal. Immediately upon killing one, he 

 drags it bodily into some dense thicket or windfall, where he 

 will not be likely to be observed. He has thus been observed 

 to drag a full-grown Deer considerably over a hundred feet 

 before reaching a satisfactory covert." 



In North America, except when pursued by dogs, or in 

 ascending precipitous cliffs, it appears that Pumas do not 

 frequently climb trees ; and when hunted by hounds, they 

 generally spring straight from the ground into the branches, 

 instead of climbing up the trunk. In Paraguay, however, 

 these animals are much more arboreal in their habits ; and, 

 like the Jaguar, have been reported to chase Monkeys from 

 tree to tree without once descending to the ground. Like the 

 Jaguar, the Puma is in the habit of scoring the bark of tree- 

 trunks with its claws. 



Regarding the disputed question as to the cries of the 

 Puma, Mr. True, in the monograph quoted above, writes as 

 follows : "Many reliable authorities are agreed that the Puma 

 does not ordinarily emit loud cries or screams, but Kennedy, 

 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 Scholt writes as follows : ' After dark his 

 mournful note is heard resounding through the solitudes of 

 the desert. The note, listened to once attentively, is apt to 



