The Puma, or Lion of America. 35 
sheep. Frequently after his nocturnal visits we 
found, by tracing his footprints in the loose sand, 
that he had actually used the calves’ pen as a 
place of concealment while waiting to make his 
attack on the sheep. 
The puma often kills full-grown cows and horses, 
but exhibits a still greater daring when attacking 
the jaguar, the largest of American carnivores, 
although, compared with its swift, agile enemy, as 
heavy as a rhinoceros. Azara states that it is 
generally believed in La Plata and Paraguay that 
the puma attacks and conquers the jaguar; but he 
did not credit what he heard, which was not strange, 
since he had already set the puma down as a 
cowardly animal, because it does not attempt to 
harm man or child. Nevertheless, it is well known 
that where the two species inhabit the same dis- 
trict they are at enmity, the puma being the per- 
sistent persecutor of the jaguar, following and 
harassing it as a tyrant-bird harasses an eagle or 
hawk, moving about it with such rapidity as to 
’ confuse it, and, when an opportunity occurs, 
Springing upon its back and inflicting terrible 
wounds with teeth and claws. Jaguars with scarred 
backs are frequently killed, and others, not long 
escaped from their tormentors, have been found 
so greatly lacerated that they were easily overcome 
by the hunters. 
In Kingsley’s American Standard Natural His- 
tory, it is stated that the puma in North Cali- 
fornia has a feud with the grizzly bear similar to 
that of the southern animal with the jaguar. In 
its encounter with the grizzly it is said to be always 
D 
