The Puma, or Lion of America. 37 



preferred not to import into their writings matter 

 which has so great a likeness' to fable, and might 

 have the effect of imperilling their reputation for 

 sober-mindedness. 



It is, however, possible that the singular instinct 

 of the southern puma, which is unique among 

 animals in a state of nature, is not possessed by the 

 entire species, ranging as it does over a hundred 

 degrees of latitude, from British North America to 

 Tierra del Fuego. The widely different conditions 

 of life in the various regions it inhabits must 

 necessarily have caused some divergence. Con- 

 cerning its habits in the dense forests of the Ama- 

 zonian region, where it must have developed special 

 instincts suited to its semi-arboreal life, scarcely 

 anything has been recorded. Everyone is, however, 

 familiar with the dreaded cougar, catamount, or 

 panther sometimes called "painter" of North 

 American literature, thrilling descriptions of en- 

 counters with this imaginary man-eating monster 

 being freely scattered through the backwoods or 

 border romances, many of them written by authors 

 who have the reputation of being true to nature. 

 It may be true that this cougar of a cold climate 

 did occasionally attack man, or, as it is often 

 stated, follow him in the forest with the intention 

 of springing on him unawares ; but on this point 

 nothing definite will ever be known, as the pioneers 

 and hunters of the past were only anxious to shoot 

 the cougar and not to study its instinct and dis- 

 position. It is now many years since Audubon 

 and Bachman wrote, " This animal, which has ex- 

 cited so much terror in the minds of the ignorant 



