CHAPTER TI. 



THE PUMA, OB LION OF AMERICA. 



THE Puma has been singularly unfortunate in its 

 biographers. Formerly it often happened that 

 writers were led away by isolated and highly exag- 

 gerated incidents to attribute very shining quali- 

 ties to their favourite animals ; the lion of the Old 

 World thus came to be regarded as brave and 

 magnanimous above all beasts of the field the 

 Bayard of the four-footed kind, a reputation which 

 these prosaic and sceptical times have not suffered 

 it to keep. Precisely the contrary has happened 

 with the puma of literature ; for, although to those 

 personally acquainted with the habits of this lesser 

 lion of the New World it is known to possess a 

 marvellous courage and daring, it is nevertheless 

 always spoken of in books of natural history as the 

 most pusillanimous of the larger carnivores. It 

 does not attack man, and Azara is perfectly correct 

 when he affirms that it never hurts, or threatens to 

 hurt, man or child, even when it finds them sleep- 

 ing. This, however, is not a full statement of the 

 facts ; the puma will not even defend itself against 

 man. How natural, then, to conclude that it is too 

 timid to attack a human being, or to defend itself, 

 but scarcely philosophical ; for even the most 

 cowardly carnivores we know dogs and hyaenas, 



