APPENDIX 367 



20 pumas I feel safe in saying that we should handle nearly 

 if not quite all of them ; true they are very similar in size and 

 are equally as well armed with teeth and claws, but they have 

 not for a moment the courage or audacity of the leopard and 

 panther. 



" Bears vary much and there are but few animals more 

 dangerous. Several of the worst accidents that have hap- 

 pened in our establishment which dates back exactly 100 

 years, 1805-1905, have been occasioned by bears. 



" Assuring you of my kindly appreciation of your hon- 

 orable inquiry and holding myself at all times at your service, 

 I am, dear Mr. President, 



"Very sincerely yours, 



" FRANK C. BOSTOCK." 



From this it looks as if there were a curious psychic 

 difference between the cougar and the other big cats. I 

 do not believe a leopard or jaguar would go up a tree 

 for one rather small dog, as a cougar will often (although 

 by no means always) do. Yet the cougar often preys on 

 animals as big and as formidable as those preyed on by 

 the jaguar or leopard. The biggest male which I killed 

 was, in point of size, of muscular power, and of devel- 

 opment of claws and teeth, more formidable by far than 

 the average leopard or jaguar, nor do I believe that the 

 ordinary individual of either of these species could have 

 opposed it in fight; it had been killing full-grown steers 

 and horses; yet it made no offer to charge me, though 

 killed under circumstances which would probably have 

 earned a charge from a big spotted cat; and we got it at 

 all only because it finally went up a tree before a single 



