The Couear 



&' 



a shout, at another he will fight desperately. 

 They are powerful animals, particularly in the 

 fore quarters. I have seen one lope down a 

 mountain side, through about six inches of 

 snow, carrying a fawn by the nape of the neck 

 in its jaws, and swinging the body clear. 



In the West generally, I think, the lion is 

 considered cowardly — a belief I share, though 

 agreeing with Theodore Roosevelt, who in 

 "The Wilderness Hunter" says cougars, and, 

 in fact, all animals vary in moods just as much 

 as mankind. Because of their feline strategy 

 and craftiness, they are most difficult animals 

 to hunt ; I know none more so. Neither do I 

 know of any beast so likely to still the tender- 

 foot's heart. Their cry is as terror-striking as 

 it is varied. I have heard them wail so you 

 would swear an infant had been left out in the 

 cold by its mamma; I have heard them screech 

 like a woman in distress; and, again, growl 

 after the conventional manner attributed to 

 the monarch of the forest. The average camp 

 dog runs to cover when a cougar is awakening 

 the echoes of the mountain. I should call it 

 lucky, for those who hunt with dogs, that the 

 lion does not pierce the atmosphere by his 

 screeches when being nunted ; for, if he did, I 



253 



