PUMA — COYOTE— RED AND CROSS FOX 341 



bound from some elevation. If the attack fails after several attempts, pumas let 

 their victims escape, in spite of their wonderful leaping powers, which are such as 

 to enable them to jump on to branches 18 to 20 feet from the ground. In deep 

 snow pumas follow their prey much farther than at other times, and they have 

 then been seen chasing deer for considerable distances. When they overtake their 

 victims, pumas jump on the shoulders, and break the vertebrae of the neck with 

 their fore-feet. In South America the puma is said sometimes to jump on the 

 back of the jaguar, when it inflicts terrible wounds with its claws. And the same 

 story is told in North America with regard to the puma and the grisly bear. In 

 proportion to its size, the puma is undoubtedly one of the fiercest and most 

 courageous beasts-of-prey, and it is therefore all the more remarkable that it should 

 be such a coward in the presence of man. This appears to be especially noticeable 

 in South America, where for many years it has been known that pumas never attack 

 grown-up persons, children, or any sleeping human beings. 



Among the members of the dog tribe inhabiting the United 

 States, the most characteristic is the coyote (Canis latrans), which 

 ranges from Manitoba to Costa Rica, and is particularly common in Texas and the 

 north of Mexico, as well as on the prairies. This species, which has been sub- 

 divided into a number of races (species of American naturalists), is easil} T 

 distinguished from the true wolves of North America, to which allusion has been 

 made in an earlier chapter, by its inferior stature and more bushy tail, as well 

 as by the closer and longer fur. 



Compared with the various modifications of the wolf, the coyote is a slender, 

 lithe, graceful, and smaller animal. Except in the pallid desert forms, in which 

 the fulvous tints are replaced by buff, the muzzle, back of the ears, outer sides, and 

 in some cases the whole, of the limbs, and the terminal half of the lower side of the 

 tail are fulvous. The ground-colour of the back varies from buff", or even from 

 buffish white, in the desert forms, to dull fulvous in the South Mexican race ; the 

 relative preponderance of black-tipped hairs being usually dependent upon the 

 intensity of the ground-colour. The upper surface of the tail is coloured like the 

 back, but shows at about one-third the length from the root an elongated black 

 spot, marking the position of the gland situated here in all members of the dcg 

 tribe. The tail-tip is always black, although occasionally it may contain a tuft 

 of white hair. The male coyote is superior in size to the female. 

 Red and Cross The red fox (C. vulpes fidvus), representing the common 



Fox - fox of Europe, inhabits the eastern States. In the same area occurs 



the so-called cross-fox, which is a mere individual variety, not even entitled to 

 rank as a distinct race. Of a very different type is the Virginian or grey fox 

 (G. cinereo-argenteus), whose range, inclusive of the numerous local races, extends 

 from the United States to Central America. It is much smaller in size than the red 

 fox, and seems to be a transitional form between the latter and the fox-like dogs of 

 South America. Hence it is separated generically, under the name of Urocyon, 

 by those naturalists who refer to the true foxes as Vulpes. The typical race of the 

 species inhabits eastern North America from Georgia northwards to New England 

 and westwards to the valley of the Mississippi. Its habits are unlike those of the 

 common fox. 



