THE COUGAR. 



to be flight, and even if its assailant is very 

 close, it rarely charges if there is any chance 

 for escape. Yet there are occasions when it 

 will show fight. In the spring of 1890, a man 

 with whom I had more than once worked on 

 the round-up though I never knew his name 

 was badly mauled by a cougar near my ranch. 

 He was hunting with a companion and they 

 unexpectedly came on the cougar on a shelf 

 of sandstone above their herds, only some ten 

 feet off. It sprang down on the man, mangled 

 him with teeth and claws for a moment, and 

 then ran away. Another man I knew, a 

 hunter named Ed. Smith, who had a small 

 ranch near Helena, was once charged by a 

 wounded cougar ; he received a couple of deep 

 scratches, but was not seriouly hurt. 



Many old frontiersmen tell tales of the 

 cougar's occasionally itself making the attack, 

 and dogging to his death some unfortunate 

 wayfarer. Many others laugh such tales to 

 scorn. It is certain that if such attacks occur 

 they are altogether exceptional, being indeed 

 of such extreme rarity that they may be en- 

 tirely disregarded in practice. I should have 

 no more hesitation in sleeping out in a wood 

 where there were cougars, or walking through it 

 after nightfall, than I should have if the 

 cougars were tomcats. 



Yet it is foolish to deny that in exceptional 

 instances attacks may occur. Cougars vary 

 wonderfully in size, and no less in temper. 

 Indeed I think that by nature they are as 

 ferocious and bloodthirsty as they are 



