48 ANIMALS OP NORTH AMERICA. 



This tribe cannot, like most other of the Carnivora, subsist 

 on vegetable food, but must either starve or possess them- 

 selves of flesh. Sometimes they drop from a tree, or, lying 

 in wait under cover, they spring upon and secure some unsus- 

 pecting animal at a single bound. It is remarkable that some 

 individuals of this tribe are found in nearly every region of 

 the earth; and though the same kinds are confined within 

 certain limits, still most parts of the globe appear to be repre- 

 sented by their own peculiar species ; thus, the lion and tiger 

 are inhabitants of Africa and Asia, being found nowhere 

 else. In -America these are represented by the puma 

 or jaguar, confined to that continent. The caracal is found 

 only in Turkey and Persia ; the lynx in Northern America 

 and Canada. 



THE COUGAR (Fetis Concolor), called also the Puma, Cata- 

 mount, Panther or Painter (the last term evidently a corrup- 

 tion), and American Lion, is the largest of our species. 



Description. Ears short and distant ; no mane ; tail long 

 and slender ; fur soft and short ; color, dark reddish gray. 



A great deal of confusion has arisen as to the name panther? 

 which, however, has been decided to be the Felis pardus of 

 Linne, an Asiatic animal. The puma was called the American 

 lion by the naturalists who first explored this country ; they 

 contended it was a true lion, but degenerate in size, owing 

 to the climate! Vanderdeiick, in his history of the New 

 Netherlands (now New York State), says: "Although the 

 New Netherlands lie in a fierce climate, and the country in 

 winter seems rather (?) cold, nevertheless lions are found 

 there, but not by the Christians, who have traversed the 

 land without seeing one. It is only known to us by the 

 skins, which are sometimes brought in for sale by the natives. 

 In reply to our enquiries, they say that the lions are found 

 far to the southwest, fifteen to twenty days' journey ; that 

 they live in very high mountains, and that the males are too 

 active and fierce to be taken." 



