The Puma 267 



all false, but in a restricted sense all true. That is to say, 

 the several ways of destruction mentioned are practised as 

 occasion requires or suggests. 



One point at least with regard to the puma's disposition 

 in certain directions is more clearly set forth than has 

 been the case in respect to other beasts of prey, and this 

 is the fact that the creature's temper has been greatly 

 changed by contact with mankind. The same thing has 

 happened everywhere with all game hunted successfully 

 for a long period ; but this fact is ignored, and brutes 

 whose natures are different in some minor traits from what 

 they once were, are discussed as if the special features now 

 exhibited had been always the same. 



C. Barrington Brown (" Canoe and Camp Life in British 

 Guiana ") relates an incident which occurred while he was 

 exploring the upper courses of the Cutari and Aramatau 

 rivers. " One evening, while returning to camp along 

 the portage path that we were cutting at Wonobobo Falls, 

 I walked faster than the men, and got some two hundred 

 yards in advance of them. As I rose the slope of an un- 

 even piece of ground, I saw a large puma (Felis concolor) 

 advancing towards me, along the other side of the rise, 

 with its nose close to the ground. The moment I saw it 

 I stopped, and at the same instant it tossed up its head, 

 and seeing me also, came to a stand. With its body half- 

 crouched, its head erect, and its eyes round and black 

 from the expansion of their pupils in the dusky light, it 

 was at once a noble and appalling sight. I glanced back 

 along our wide path to see if any of the men were coming, 

 as at that moment I felt that it was not well to be alone 



