50 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 



ers. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, in his intensely interesting 

 account of the animals of the Adirondack region, de- 

 scribes panther hunting as it was in the North Woods 

 thirty years ago. He says : "The hunter commonly 

 follows the panther for many days, and sometimes for 

 weeks, before overtaking him, and could never get him 

 were it not for the fact that he remains near the spot 

 where he kills a deer till it is eaten. When the hunter 

 has followed a panther for days, and has, perhaps, 

 nearly come up with him, a heavy snowstorm often 

 sets in and obliterates all signs of the track. He is 

 then obliged to make wide detours to ascertain in which 

 direction the animal has gone. On these long and tire- 

 some snowshoe tramps he is, of course, obliged to 

 sleep, without shelter, wherever night overtakes him. 

 The heavy walking makes it impossible for him to 

 carry many days' rations, and when his provision gives 

 out he must strike for some camp or settlement for a 

 new supply. This, of course, consumes valuable time 

 and enables the panther to get still further away. 

 When the beast is finally killed the event is celebrated 

 by a feast, for panther meat is not only paltable, but is 

 really fine eating." What grand, exhilarating, ennob- 

 ling sport it must have been ! As practiced in the 

 Adirondacks, so it was carried on in Pennsylvania in 

 the old days. It is related that Lewis Dorman, a Cen- 

 tre county hunter, followed a panther for nearly two 

 months before he brought it to bay. Dorman, who was 

 a mighty hunter, died on November 28, 1905, and is 

 buried in St; Paul's Churchyard, near \\''oodward, in 



