70 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



upon the Quadrupeds of North America, cautions the reader 

 not to credit the legends of the vulgar in regard to the ferocity 

 of this animal, and its propensity to attack man, and then goes 

 on to picture midnight encounters and hair-breadth escapes 

 almost as thrilling as the story above quoted. Oh, the incon- 

 sistency of man! It is now so well known that the panther is 

 one of the most cowardly of beasts, never attacking man unless 

 wounded and cornered, that it is unnecessary to do more than 

 contradict the popular impression to the contrary. 



2d. Concerning the method of capturing its prey. 



It is commonly and widely believed, and boldly asserted in 

 print, that the panther lurks in ambush for its prey; that it 

 lies in wait beside the runways of the wary deer, hidden by 

 some rock or thicket, or crouching upon an overhanging limb, 

 and falls, like a thunderbolt from heaven, upon the back of its 

 hapless and unsuspecting victim. Such romances, however 

 gratifying to the narrator, and entertaining to the community, 

 are without foundation in fact. * * * 



3d. Concerning the screams of the panther. 



Who has not heard of the piercing cries and startling screams 

 of the panther? Who has listened, about the evening camp- 

 fire, to the tales of hunters and woodsmen, but has felt his 

 blood run cold, and his hat tighten on his head, as the earnest 

 speaker, perhaps in a whisper, and uninterrupted save by the 

 sputtering of the fire, told of the time when, alone in the soli- 

 tudes of the deep forest, and at the dead of night, he was sud- 

 denly awakened by a piercing scream that burst upon his weary 

 ears. It seemed like the shriek of a woman in distress, or the 

 pitiful wail of a lost child. Half asleep, quite bewildered, he 

 starts to his feet to render assistance, when the glaring eye 

 balls of a fierce cougar met his horrified gaze and acquainted 

 him with the nature of his unwelcome guest! 



An attack of indigestion, the cry of a loon, or the screech of 

 an owl, a piece phosphorescent wood and a very moderate im 

 agination, are all that are necessary, in the way of material 

 and connctions, to build up a thrilling tale of this description. 

 Indeed, the writer once had a bit of personal experience in this 

 line that is not yet forgotten. 



In conversing with honest hunters upon this point, it has 

 been my uniform experience to find that those who have had 

 most to do with panthers are most skeptical in regard to their 

 cries. 



