THE PUMA 409 



with the quills of porcupines. Whether, however, these animals were selected 

 as an article of food from choice, or whether the pumas were driven to devour them 

 from inability to capture other prey, is uncertain. Be this as it may, porcupines 

 are creatures which, from their sluggish habits and contempt of ordinary foes, may 

 be easily captured, and would be sure to come in the way of the puma during its 

 nocturnal wanderings. Mr. Perry states that the North American puma will eat 

 almost anything, from deer down to rats, mice, fish, and even snails. In the pampas 

 of South America the puma, in addition to the larger animals already men- 

 tioned, is stated to prey upon large Rodents like the aguti and the paca, and like- 

 wise upon the coati, while it is also said to kill and eat the noisome skunk. The 

 rhea, or South American ostrich, is also at times hunted by the puma on the pam- 

 pas, while in New Mexico and Arizona, according to Messrs. Coues and Yarrow, 

 so severely are the wild turkeys persecuted by it that many hundreds are killed an- 

 nually, and several of their old breeding places have become completely deserted. 

 When extremely hard pressed by hunger, the puma is said not even to disdain a 

 meal of carrion. 



Like most of the larger felines, the puma seeks its prey mainly by night and 

 during the morning and evening twilights, but it hunts occasionally by day. Deer 

 are stalked after the usual stealthy manner of the cat tribe, and when approached 

 within striking distance are rushed upon in a series of successive leaps, unless, in- 

 deed, the puma can spring upon them from an elevation, when a single leap will 

 suffice. If not caught within a few leaps, the deer commonly escapes, as its foe 

 then gives up the chase. The leaping powers of the puma are prodigious, and it is 

 said that when pursued by dogs it has been known to spring upwards and reach a 

 bough at a height of twenty feet from the ground, while horizontal leaps of the 

 same distance are by no means uncommon, and an instance is on record where the 

 length of a leap on snow was close upon forty feet. Authorities are now generally 

 agreed that the puma kills the larger animals by springing upon their shoulders and 

 dislocating the neck. In the northern portion of its range during the winter the 

 puma will on occasions pursue deer for long distances when they are incapable of 

 rapid flight owing to the depth of snow on the ground. 



The number of young produced at a birth varies from one to four or five ; but 

 apparently two is the ordinary number, more especially when in captivity. In the 

 Adirondacks, according to Dr. Merriam, the young are born toward the close of 

 winter or the beginning of spring, the lair being usually situated in a shallow cave 

 on the face of a steep cliff or ledge of rock. And it would appear that in the same 

 district the female does not give birth to offspring more frequently than every other 

 year. In the southern portions of the United States where caves and rocks are 

 wanting, Audubon states that the lair is made in a dense thicket or canebrake, and 

 constructed of twigs, leaves, and moss, with an overarching roof of evergreen canes, 

 which forms an efficient protection against rain at all seasons of the year. The 

 young when first born are from ten to twelve inches in length ; they open their eyes 

 on the ninth or tenth day. The age which the puma attains is not yet ascertained, 

 but one kept at Frankfort for sixteen years died from an accident while in full 

 health and vigor. 



