Cougar 
from that time to this there has hardly been an opportunity for 
the slyest cougar to attack man, woman or child without 
bringing down sudden and awful retribution on his head. 
Even now almost every farmhouse in the country has a 
rifle or shot-gun behind the door. 
I believe that if lions and tigers had been indigenous to 
North America, they would long ago have learned to leave 
man unmolested. 
In Northern Europe bears, wolves and lynxes still occasion- 
ally attack human beings, and very likely get away without 
being shot at in many instances. There are plenty of dauntless 
hunters and dead shots in all parts of the Old World, but they 
are in the minority. The peasants who make up by far the 
greater part of the inhabitants of the wilder districts are 
generally unarmed, and in no way fitted to take personal 
vengeance on any creature that should attack one of their 
number. 
When it comes to a question of fighting on anything like 
equal terms, the cougar is by no means a coward. In a fair 
fight, a full grown male cougar could kill the largest dog with- 
out much trouble. Even now they kill cattle and horses from 
time to time, though every such indiscretion on their part is a 
challenge to the enraged owner, with his Winchester, bear-trap 
or strychnine. 
Although originally found in every wooded part of the 
United States, they were so quickly driven off by the settlers that 
not much is known of their habits here in the East. A few. have 
lingered along in the wilder districts of the Northeastern States 
even down to the present day; but their every footprint has 
been eagerly searched for and heavy steel traps set where they 
were likely to step; while the slightest rumour of a panther in 
the region would call out scores of zealous hunters armed with 
shot-guns loaded with buckshot and rifles of every description, 
and accompanied by dogs of all breeds for tracking. 
The last cougar killed here in Northeastern New Hampshire, 
where | write, was shot in a neighbouring town something like 
forty years ago. But there are still rumours from time to time 
of them having been seen in the northern part of the State, 
especially since deer have become more common. In the East- 
ern States they appear to have made their homes in hollow 
ago 
