86 HUNTER'S AND TRAPPER'S GUIDE. 



of the South and West. It lives in the thick- 

 est forests and cane-brakes to be found, keep- 

 ing well out of sight during the- day but at 

 night prowling about the surrounding country 

 capturing sheep, hogs, young calves, deer and 

 any animal that it can kill. It is heard scream- 

 ing in the early part of the night and its tracks 

 are found about the farm the next morning, 

 and probably, too, half a dozen sheep with 

 their throats cut. The panther drinks the 

 blood of his victims, and if there is a drove or 

 herd will make a meal entirely on blood, kill- 

 ing sometimes as many as five or six animals. 

 It has its young once a year, generally in the 

 month of May, having from three to four at a 

 birth. The only bait for a panther is its urine 

 or a live sheep, goat or hog, 'for it will not eat 

 anything it does not itself kill. 



The panther must be trapped on dry land 

 as it seldom goes into water. In hunting the 

 panther go near thick cane-brakes or forests 

 late in the evening, where you think the pan- 



