The Puma 263 



what has been said with regard to this trait, it will appear 

 that most denunciations of the animal's cowardice rest 

 upon circumstances under which it did not conduct itself 

 like a gentleman. A cougar's padded foot, its short 

 massive limbs, which prevent it from chasing prey, the 

 brute's great powers of concealing itself, and perfect 

 physical adjustment to sudden and violent attacks, are 

 recapitulated as though they had no necessary connection 

 with its behavior, and were not inseparably associated with 

 corresponding peculiarities of character and habit. 



A beast of prey passes the active portion of its existence 

 in projecting or executing acts of violence. Habitual 

 success means life, and failure death. Under such cir- 

 cumstances, under the influence of an experience in which 

 by far the larger part of those enterprises undertaken 

 resulted favorably, a self-confidence, incompatible with 

 cowardice, will ensue. 



At the same time there seems to be some general pre- 

 conception with respect to the character of wild beasts, 

 such as converts every manifestation of prudence into 

 poltroonery. The clash of opinions expressed about all the 

 more imposing animals witnesses to the crude and arbi- 

 trary manner in which they have been formed. With 

 respect to this one, not the tiger himself has been the 

 subject of more irreconcilable statements. 



Stories of puma hunting and of the animal's exploits 

 depend, so far as their style is concerned, upon the place 

 where they are told, and the experiences of the narrator. 

 No hunter of large game thinks it anything of a feat to 

 shoot a cougar, yet the author has known these brutes 



