42 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



males. The cougar is normally a very solitary beast. 

 The young two to four in number, though more than 

 one or two rarely grow up follow the mother until over 

 half grown. The mother lives entirely alone with the 

 kittens while they are small. As the males fight so 

 fiercely among themselves, it may be that the old he-cou- 

 gars kill the young of their own sex; a ranchman whom 

 I knew once found the body of a young male cougar 

 which had evidently been killed by an old one; but I 

 cannot say whether or not this was an exceptional case. 



During the next ten days Stewart and Webb each shot 

 a cougar. Webb's was got by as pretty an exhibition of 

 trailing on the part of Goff and his hounds as one could 

 wish to see. We ran across its old tracks while coming 

 home on Wednesday, January i6th. The next day, 

 Thursday, we took up the trail, but the animal had trav- 

 elled a long distance; and, as cougars so often do, had 

 spent much of its time walking along ledges, or at the 

 foot of the cliffs, where the sun had melted the snow off 

 the ground. In consequence, the dogs were often at fault. 

 Moreover, bobcats were numerous, and twice the pack 

 got after one, running a couple of hours before, in one 

 instance, the cat went into a cave, and, in the other, took 

 to a tree, where it was killed by Webb. At last, when 

 darkness came on, we were forced to leave the cougar 

 trail and ride home; a very attractive ride, too, loping 

 rapidly over the snow-covered flats, while above us the 

 great stars fairly blazed in the splendor of the winter 

 night. 



Early next morning we again took up the trail, and 



