400 Cjame of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



the creature is famished hy hunger, or when driven to hay hy the hunter. 

 Numerous writers hear witness to this tact in North America, and Dr. 

 Goeldi has done the same in regard to BraziL From accounts given him 

 hy the Gauchos in Argentina, Mr. Hudson goes even further, stating that 

 pumas have been known to detend men trom the attacks of the jaguar, to 

 which this animal appears to have an innate antipathy, hut this is probably 

 a mere legend. 



The situation of the breeding-place of the puma varies with the nature 

 of the country it inhabits. In the Adirondacks a cave opening into the 

 face of a scarped cliff" may serve the purpose, but in the more southern 

 States some dense coppice or cane-brake is the favourite resort, and on the 

 pampas of Argentina a tussock ot tall grass affords the required shelter. 

 Equally marked differences occur in the season ot the year at which the 

 cubs come into the world ; the usual time in the United States being early 

 spring or late winter, but in Argentina during the southern summer, that 

 is to say, about the close ot December. From two to five is the usual 

 number of cubs in a litter when the animal is living in the wild condition ; 

 and in North America, at any rate, it is believed that the female breeds 

 only once in two years. 



Except when hunted with dogs, or to aid themselves in ascending steep 

 cliffs, pumas in the United States seldom climb trees, and when they do 

 resort to this they usually leap straight up into the boughs instead of scaling 

 the trunk. It is true that the trunks of trees are frequently scored by their 

 claws, but this is due to the animals rearing themselves up against the stem 

 and scratching the bark after the manner of the tiger in India. In the 

 densely wooded districts of Paraguay pumas are, however, reported to 

 become more or less arboreal in their habits, chasing monkeys from bough 

 to bough like the jaguar. 



As a rule, it appears that the puma is a silent animal ; but hunters and 

 explorers bear testimony to the fact that it occasionally gives utterance to 



