68 COMMON FOX. 



lonely wilderness is deserted both by small animals 

 and birds, and the thinly peopled country affords 

 few opportunities of committing depredations. And 

 yet even such of the prowling brotherhood as reside 

 on the verge of cultivated lands, do not make their 

 wonted visits to the hen-roosts, during winter. 

 Their foot-prints are never seen on the snow around 

 the farms, although these are nightly infested in the 

 summer season. 



The Carnivora of America are fewer than those 

 of the ancient continent. At the head of these 

 stand the Conguar or Puma, (Felis concolor,) the 

 lion of America, so called, from a certain similarity 

 of colour with his royal brother; but though they 

 are aboriginal throughout the greater part of the 

 American continent, Baron Cuvier has not been 

 able to ascertain any varieties of race. D'Azara 

 tells us that he is less ferocious and more easily 

 destroyed than his relative the jaguar, that he 

 lies concealed among underwood, and never flies 

 for refuge to a cavern, however closely pursued; 

 and, further, that he climbs the loftiest trees, 

 though rather affecting the plain than the forest. 

 Anxious to confirm the opinion of America's first 

 historians, that the animals of the new world were 

 decidedly inferior to those of the old, D'Azara 

 also states, that the Puma never attacks a man, 

 rarely a dog, but timidly avoids them ; that his de- 

 predations are generally confined to quadrupeds 

 of a middle size, such as calves and sheep; and 

 that against these, his ferocity is more insatiable 

 than his hunger. He destroys many at a time, 

 but carries away perhaps, only one, concealing 



