342 The Wilderness Htmter. 



it, unless by some unlucky chance taken in a cave. Nor 

 could a cougar overcome a bull moose, or a bull elk either, 

 if the latter's horns were grown, save by taking it una- 

 wares. By choice, with such big game, its victims are the 

 cows and young. The prong-horn rarely comes within 

 reach of its spring ; but it is the dreaded enemy of big- 

 horn, white goat, and every kind of deer, while it also 

 preys on all the smaller beasts, such as foxes, coons, rab- 

 bits, beavers, and even gophers, rats, and mice. It some- 

 times makes a thorny meal of the porcupine, and if 

 sufficiently hungry attacks and eats its smaller cousin the 

 lynx. It is not a brave animal ; nor does it run its prey 

 down in open chase. It always makes its attacks by 

 stealth, and if possible from behind, and relies on two or 

 three tremendous springs to bring it on the doomed crea- 

 ture's back. It uses its claws as well as its teeth in hold- 

 ing and killing the prey. If possible it always seizes a 

 large animal by the throat, whereas the wolf's point of 

 attack is more often the haunch or flank. Small deer or 

 sheep it will often knock over and kill, merely using its 

 big paws ; sometimes it breaks their necks. It has a small 

 head compared to the jaguar, and its bite is much less 

 dangerous. Hence, as compared to its larger and bolder 

 relative, it places more trust in its claws and less in its teeth. 

 Though the cougar prefers woodland, it is not neces- 

 sarily a beast of the dense forests only ; for it is found in 

 all the plains country, living in the scanty timber belts 

 which fringe the streams, or among the patches of brush 

 in the Bad Lands. The persecution of hunters however 

 always tends to drive it into the most thickly wooded and 



