A BOLD PUMA. 237 



ing dogs took very good care never to turn a demonstra- 

 tion into a real attack, and were always ready to make a 

 " masterly advance to the rear." 



The puma, although nocturnal in his habits, frequently 

 prowls about in the daytime ; and notwithstanding his being 

 a feline, is sometimes bold in action. A notable instance, 

 illustrative of this statement, happened before we left Wet- 

 mountain Valley. One afternoon my comrade successfully 

 stalked a buck and a doe, who were feeding together ; upon 

 his firing, the buck dropped killed in his tracks and the 

 doe ran off a short distance, stopped and looked back. 

 Not having seen or smelt anyone, she seemed uncertain 

 which way to go, and waited for her mate to get up and 

 join her. My comrade rapidly reloaded, tried a long shot, 

 and knocked her down ; but she immediately recovered 

 herself, and bounded off through a dense but narrow strip 

 of chapparel, he following at a run, charging his rifle as he 

 went. A hundred yards beyond the thicket she had tra- 

 versed the doe fell again, that time to rise no more. My 

 companion, when he reached the prostrate deer, bled her, 

 and turned back to perform that necessary operation on the 

 victim to his first shot. 



I had heard the two reports, and having gone in the 

 direction whence the sounds had come, joined my comrade 

 just as, returning from where his doe lay, he emerged from 

 the chapparel and stood in sight of the place where the 

 buck had fallen. He pointed to the spot, but no buck was 

 to be seen. We hastened up. No mistake had been made 

 as to the place ; there, where the deer had fallen, was the 

 impression of his body, his blood on the grass. There were 



