The Cougar 151 



the quarry was at bay, I think the danger 

 would have been minimized. 



General Hampton followed his game on 

 horseback; but in following the cougar with 

 dogs this is by no means always necessary. 

 Thus Colonel Cecil Clay, of Washington, 

 killed a cougar in West Virginia, on foot with 

 only three or four hounds. The dogs took 

 the cold trail, and he had to run many miles 

 over the rough, forest-clad mountains after 

 them. Finally they drove the cougar up a 

 tree; where he found it, standing among the 

 branches, in a half-erect position, its hind- 

 feet on one limb and its fore-feet on another, 

 while it glared down at the dogs, and switched 

 its tail from side to side. He shot it through 

 both shoulders, and down it came in a heap, 

 whereupon the dogs jumped in and worried 

 it, for its fore-legs were useless, though it 

 managed to catch one dog in its jaws and 

 bite him severely. 



A wholly exceptional instance of the kind 

 was related to me by my old hunting friend 

 Willis. In his youth, in southwest Missouri, 

 he knew a half-witted "poor white" who was 

 very fond of hunting coons. He hunted at 

 night, armed with an axe, and accompanied 

 by his dog Penny, a large, savage, half- 



