160 Hunting the Grisly 



In 1886 a cougar killed an Indian near 

 Flathead Lake. Two Indians were hunting 

 together on horseback when they came on the 

 cougar. It fell at once to their shots, and 

 they dismounted and ran toward it. Just as 

 they reached it it came to, and seized one, 

 killing him instantly with a couple of savage 

 bites in the throat and chest; it then raced 

 after the other, and, as he sprung on his horse, 

 struck him across the buttocks, inflicting a 

 deep but not dangerous scratch. I saw this 

 survivor a year later. He evinced great re- 

 luctance to talk of the event, and insisted that 

 the thing which had slain his companion was 

 not really a cougar at all, but a devil. 



A she-cougar does not often attempt to 

 avenge the loss of her young, but sometimes 

 she does. A remarkable instance of the kind 

 happened to my friend, Professor John Bach 

 McMaster, in 1875. He was camped near 

 the head of Green River, Wyoming. One 

 afternoon he found a couple of cougar kit- 

 tens, and took them into camp; they were 

 clumsy, playful, friendly little creatures. The 

 next afternoon he remained in camp with the 

 cook. Happening to look up he suddenly 

 spied the mother cougar running noiselessly 

 down on them, her eyes glaring and tail 



