The Cougar. 341 



If cowboys come across a cougar in open ground they 

 invariably chase and try to rope it as indeed they do 

 with any wild animal. I have known several instances of 

 cougars being roped in this way ; in one the animal was 

 brought into camp alive by two strapping cowpunchers. 



The cougar sometimes stalks its prey, and sometimes 

 lies in wait for it beside a game-trail or drinking pool- 

 very rarely indeed does it crouch on the limb of a tree. 

 When excited by the presence of game it is sometimes 

 very bold. Willis once fired at some bighorn sheep, on a 

 steep mountain-side ; he missed, and immediately after his 

 shot, a cougar made a dash into the midst of the flying 

 band, in hopes to secure a victim. The cougar roams 

 over long distances, and often changes its hunting ground, 

 perhaps remaining in one place two or three months, 

 until the game is exhausted, and then shifting to another. 

 When it does not lie in wait it usually spends most of the 

 night, winter and summer, in prowling restlessly around 

 the places where it thinks it may come across prey, and it 

 will patiently follow an animal's trail. There is no kind 

 of game, save the full-grown grisly and buffalo, which it 

 does not at times assail and master. It readily snaps up 

 grisly cubs or buffalo calves ; and in at least one instance, 

 I have known of it springing on, slaying, and eating a full- 

 grown wolf. I presume the latter was taken by surprise. 

 On the other hand, the cougar itself has to fear the big 

 timber wolves when maddened by the winter hunger and 

 gathered in small parties ; while a large grisly would of 

 course be an overmatch for it twice over, though its 

 superior agility puts it beyond the grisly's power to harm 



