50 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



localities to profitable ranching. These forays 

 happen as often by day as by night ; and the de- 

 plorable feature of them is, that the marauder, 

 with true brutish ferocity, is not content with sat- 

 isfying his present hunger, but keeps on slashing 

 right and left until he has struck down every ani- 

 mal within reach. Thus in many cases nineteen 

 or twenty sheep have been slaughtered in a single 

 foray, a little blood only being sucked from 

 each one. The same story comes from the cattle, 

 sheep, horse, and llama owners of South America, 

 where, in the Andes, this animal abounds nearly 

 up to the snow-line. Patagonian shepherds told 

 Mr. Spears of losing from forty to one hundred 

 and twenty sheep in a single night. 



The manner of attack has been described, a 

 stealthy approach, followed by a lightning-like 

 spring. The attempt, in the case of a large quad- 

 ruped, is to knock it down with one blow of the 

 muscular paw, then instantly to seize and pull 

 back the head, breaking the neck ; Darwin notes 

 in his " Voyage," that he examined the skeletons 

 of many llamas, said to have been killed by pumas, 

 whose necks were dislocated in this manner. If 

 that fails, a single bite of the long, lance-like, sec- 

 torial teeth on each side of the upper jaw, com- 

 pletes the work. 



The quarry is not eaten on the spot, but is taken 

 away to be devoured at leisure. Small animals 

 are lifted free from the ground, but those as heavy 



