ALLEN : MAMMALIA : FELID^. 1 7 1 



the point where he had disappeared over the crest of the bluff I halted 

 for a moment to reconnoitre. I knew the inability of this animal, like all 

 the others of his tribe, to maintain any considerable speed for a long dis- 

 tance, and that when once beyond my sight he would seek refuge in con- 

 cealment rather than flight. Over the slopes and bottom of the shallow 

 canon there was a considerable growth of scattered brush. By carefully 

 scanning the ground about these I soon discovered the object of my search 

 lying stretched at full length upon the ground. To despatch him with a 

 rifle ball was the work of but a moment and required neither skill nor 

 courage. I preserved both skin and skeleton, and, much to my surprise, 

 they have been considered by Dr. C. Hart Merriam as belonging to a 

 new subspecies. 



"Pretty nearly every traveler in Patagonia has remarked upon the 

 naturally timid and cowardly nature of the puma. So far from a general 

 disposition to attack man they are, as a rule, exceedingly timid, and 

 examples are not at all uncommon where, when brought to bay, they have 

 sought the shelter of a bush, and, without offering any real resistance, 

 allowed the hunter to despatch them with his sheath knife, or by knocking 

 them in the head with his bolas. Such timidity is not, however, univer- 

 sally characteristic of these animals, which are among the most abundant 

 and by far the largest and most powerful of the Patagonian Carnivora. 

 A notable exception to this rule, which came to the writer's knowledge, 

 may be mentioned in this connection, since the facts connected with it are 

 supported by unimpeachable authority. The case referred to is that of 

 Senor Theodoro Arneberg, Chief Engineer in charge of the work of the 

 Southern Division of the Argentine Boundary Commission. While en- 

 gaged in his work in the vicinity of Lake Viedma in the autumn of 1898, in 

 walking one day through a tangled mass of brush and tall grass, he came 

 suddenly and unexpetedly upon a puma lying in concealment. The ani- 

 mal not only made no attempt to escape, but, instantly and without warn- 

 ing, attacked the intruder in the most savage manner. Springing upon him 

 with its full force, it hurled him to the ground, although Mr. Arneberg is 

 a large and powerful man, and the lion seizing him by the lower jaw, suc- 

 ceeded in breaking out several teeth and otherwise mutilating its then com- 

 paratively helpless victim, before one of his companions could rush up and 

 despatch the thoroughly angered brute, which, after it had been killed, was 

 found to be a very old male." — Hatcher, Narrative, pp. 196-198. 



