44 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



ease with which it avoided his best-aimed blows, 

 only served to rouse his spirit, and at length striking 

 with increased force his stick came to the ground 

 and was broken to pieces. For some moments he 

 now stood within two yards of the animal perfectly 

 defenceless and not knowing what to do. Suddenly 

 it sprang past him, actually brushing against his arm 

 with its side, and began pursuing the dogs round 

 and round among the bushes. In the end my 

 informant's partner appeared on the scene with his 

 rifle, and the puma was shot. 



In encounters of this kind the most curious thing 

 is that the puma steadfastly refuses to recognize an 

 enemy in man, although it finds him acting in 

 concert with its hated canine foe, about whose 

 hostile intentions it has no such delusion. 



Several years ago a paragraph, which reached 

 me in South America, appeared in the English 

 papers relating an incident characteristic of the 

 puma in a wild beast show in this country. The 

 animal was taken out of its cage and led about the 

 grounds by its keeper, followed by a large number 

 of spectators. Suddenly it was struck motionless 

 by some object in the crowd, at which it gazed 

 steadily with a look of intense excitement ; then 

 springing violently away it dragged the chain from 

 the keeper's hand and dashed in among the people, 

 who immediately fled screaming in all directions. 

 Their fears were, however, idle, the object of the 

 puma's rage being a dog which it had spied among 

 the crowd. 



It is said that when taken adult pumas invariably 

 pine away and die ; when brought up in captivity 



