THE PUMA. tog 
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 Kennerly, 
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 
