FEI.1S CONCOI.OR 



37 



scrtcd in print, that th(_' Panther kirks in ambush for its \n-i:y ; tliat it 

 Hes in wait Ijcsidc the runways of the wary deer, hidtlen l)y some 

 rock or thicket, or crouching u[)on an overhanging hmlj, and falls, 

 like a thunderbolt from heaven, upon the liack of its hapless and un- 

 suspecting victim. Such romances, however gratif\ing to the nar- 

 rator, and entertaining to the communit)-, are without founi-lation in 

 fact, and could onl)' have originateel in the over-fertile imagination 

 of a conscienceless fabricator : 



^ ' ' a false creation, ' 



I'loceeiliiig fruin the heat-i ipjuessetl biaiii." 



Jif. Coiucrniug flic Screams of the Paiitlicr. 



Who has not heard of the piercing cries and startling screams of 

 the Panther? Who has listened, about the evening camp-fire, to the 

 tales of hunters ami woodsmen, but has felt his Ijlood run cold, and 

 his hat lighten on his head, as the earnest speaker, perhaps in a 

 whisper, and uninterru|)ted save Ijy the sputtering of the fire, tokl of 

 the time when alone in the solitudes of the deep forest, and at the 

 dead of night, he was suddenly awakeneel by a piercing scream that 

 burst upon his weary ears. It seemed like the shriek of a woman in 

 distress, or the [jitiful cry of a lost child. Half asleep, bewildered, 

 and amazed, he starts to his ieet to render assistance, when the glar- 

 ing e)'eballs of a fierce Cougar meet his horrified gaze and acquaint 

 liim with the nature of his unwelcome guest! 



An attack of indigestion, the cry of a Loon, or the screech of an 

 Owl, a piece of phosphorescent wood, and a ver)- moderate imagination, 

 are all that are necessary, in the way of material and connections, to 

 build up a thrilling tale of this description. Indeed, the writer once 

 had a bit of personal experience in this line that is not yet forgotten. 



In conversing with honest hunters upon this point it has been ni)' 

 uniform experience to find that tliose who have had most to do with 

 Panthers are the most skeptical in regard to their cries ; and I have yet 

 to find the man, whose statements on this point are of any value, that 



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