II THE FATHER OF GAME 45 



believe an account in that quaint old sportsmen's 

 magazine, "The Cabinet of Natural History," pub- 

 lished in Philadelphia in 1830-31, of a deadly 

 attack by a cougar upon a bear, the explanation 

 is probably found in the fear of a mother that her 

 kittens were in danger. 



Dr. Merriam concludes that in the Adirondacks 

 the puma breeds only once in two years. If this 

 be true, it is a striking example of one of nature's 

 limitations of these destructive beasts, which would 

 seem, at first thought, to have a clear field for 

 indefinite multiplication. But, though their food 

 is ordinarily abundant, no active enemies are to 

 be feared, and the climate holds no terrors, there 

 are certain insidious foes that they are powerless 

 to resist, in the form of parasites. To these, and 

 especially to the internal sorts, the pumas, in com- 

 mon with other cats, seem to be peculiarly lia- 

 ble. Various nematodes (thread-worms), trematodes 

 (flukes), and many kinds of tape-worms, are known 

 to attack this family. Some of them grow in the 

 stomach and bowels, until the animal perishes of 

 exhaustion and starvation, while others penetrate 

 the lungs or liver, or encyst themselves among the 

 muscles, setting up there so fierce an inflammation 

 as to cause death unless (as doubtless often hap- 

 pens) the sufferer is sooner murdered by some 

 savage rival. These parasites are taken into the 

 system from the living animals upon which the 

 cat feeds, especially from hares and other rodents. 



