202 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



or other objects, and that he frequently follows 

 people for hours through the woods without their 

 ever seeing him and, I suppose, too, the very fact 

 that he is so rarely seen make him a sort of storm 

 centre, as it were, for blood-curdling stories. 



Through years I investigated plausible ac- 

 counts of the ferocity of mountain lions. These 

 investigations brought little information, but 

 they did disclose the fact that there are a few 

 types of lion tales which are told over and over 

 again, with slight local variations. These tales 

 commonly are without the slightest basis of 

 fact. They are usually revamped by a clever 

 writer, a frightened hunter, or an interesting 

 story teller, as occasions offer. One of the com- 

 monest of the oft-told tales that have come to 

 me through the years is as follows : 



"Late Saturday evening, while Mr. and Mrs. 

 Simpson were returning from the village through 

 the woods, they were attacked by a half-starved 

 mountain lion. The lion leaped out upon them 

 from brush by the roadside and attempted to 

 seize Mr. Simpson. Though an old man, he 

 put up a fight, and at last beat off the lion with 

 the butt of the buggy whip." 



Sometimes this is a family and the time of 

 day is early morning. Sometimes the lion is 

 ferocious instead of half-starved. Sometimes 

 it is of enormous size. Once in a while he leaps 



