PANTHER. 219 



them. It is a good climber, and, when pursued by dogs, 

 runs up the first tree, however straight, and lies like a 

 squirrel close to the trunk, with its head in a crotch, 

 watching the dogs. It takes no notice whatever of the 

 approach of a man, who might even pull its tail, with no 

 more effect than to make it go higher up the tree. It is 

 not at all dangerous to man, never attacking him even 

 when wounded, though a poor shot may cause sad havoc 

 among the dogs. 



One becomes accustomed, as he grows older, to 

 having the illusions of his youth dispelled ; but after having 

 killed fifty or more panthers, under a variety of cir- 

 cumstances, without ever seeing one show fight, it is 

 difficult to account for the respect, even the terror, with 

 which eastern professional hunters surround the ' painter ' 

 as they call it. In listening to the soul-stirring recitals 

 of the Adirondack hunters, of their ' deeds of high 

 emprise ' and ' hair-breadth 'scapes,' in encounters with 

 the ' painter,' one would never suppose that the animal is 

 really very harmless to the hunter, and bagged with less 

 danger than any other of the larger carnivora. 



In many years of panther hunting I have never 

 known a person to be hurt by one ; and I have myself 

 seen a Mexican boy lay hold of the tail of a panther which 

 had taken refuge from dogs in a small mesquite tree, and 

 hold on lustily, while his brother shot the animal through 

 the head. 



I was once on a most glorious hunt with a large 

 party of officers, all of whom, save one other and myself, 

 have gone to ' that bourne.' The dogs started a panther, 

 which, taking refuge in a tree, was bunglingly shot by 

 one of the party with a revolver. Springing from the 

 tree the panther fled to a narrow-mouthed cave on the 

 side of a steep hill, into which it was followed by five or 

 six of the dogs. Among the party of hunters which soon 

 collected around the mouth of the cave was a Mexican 

 guide, called Policarpio, much liked and petted by the 



