THE PUMA 



403 



The color of young puma cubs is very different from that of the adult, the fur 

 on the body and limbs being marked with large blackish-brown spots, while the tail 

 is ringed with the same color. These spots and rings remain more or less distinct 

 till the cubs are about six months old, when they disappear to a greater or smaller 

 extent, although they can generally be traced till the animal is mature, and may in 

 some instances, especially when the fur is viewed in certain lights, continue through 

 life. The presence of these spots in puma cubs is important, as showing that the uni- 

 form coloration of the adult is an acquired feature, and that the ancestors of the 

 species were doubtless spotted at all ages. 



In regard to the dimensions of the puma, it is stated by Mr. True that a male 

 preserved in the museum at Washington has a total length (measured along the 

 curves of the body) of 6 feet 7-5- inches, of which 2 feet 2\ inches are occupied by 

 the tail. A large male killed in Arizona measured 7. feet in total length, of which 

 3 feet were occupied by the tail ; while a smaller male from the same locality had 

 a total length of only 6 feet, of which the tail took up i foot 1 1 inches. The larg- 

 est individual of which the measurements can be regarded as authenticated was 

 one killed in Texas in the year 1846, .of which the total length was 8 feet 2 inches, 

 the length of the tail being 3 feet i inch. It is stated that a stuffed specimen 

 measures 9 feet i inch in total length, while Mr. W. A. Perry considers that 

 the length may in some instances be as much as n feet, which appears, however, 

 somewhat improbable. 



The geographical range of the puma in latitude is probably greater than that 

 of any other Mammal, extending from New England and British Columbia in the 

 north, to the extreme end of Patagonia in the south ; while Mr. W. H. Hudson is 

 of opinion that it has also occurred in Tierra del Fuego. According to Mr. True, in 

 North America it does not even appear to have been met with in the states of New 

 Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, or Delaware on the Atlantic coast, nor in 

 Michigan or Indiana in the north. Another recent writer states that it is still 

 abundant in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and 

 Alaska, and that it is most numerously represented in northern Washington, where 

 it attains its largest size, and where the abundance of deer, grouse, and rabbits, and 

 also of fish in the rivers, afford it an inexhaustible supply of food. In Ohio the 

 puma was exterminated previous to the year 1838, while it appears to have be- 

 come more recently extinct in the states of Illinois and Indiana. Like many of the 

 other wild animals of the United States, the puma is rapidly retreating before the 

 advance of civilization and cultivation, and it is probable, as Mr. True remarks, 

 that in several of the more thickly-populated states not even stragglers now remain. 

 In South America it appears to be abundant both in the forest districts of the great 

 rivers, and likewise on the desert pampas ; and in the latter area it largely exceeds 

 the jaguar in numbers. 



As might have been predicted from its immense geographical range, the puma 

 is remarkable for its power of adapting itself to different climatic conditions and ex- 

 ternal surroundings. For instance, in the Adirondack mountains, near New York, 

 where it is now nearly exterminated, the puma has to withstand a severe winter 

 cold, during which it has to track its prey in the snow ; and this is also still more 



