EARLY DAY STORIES. 175 



animals were, and probably now are very plentiful in the 

 rougher and wilder parts of the Black Hills. A number of 

 times while hunting deer in the Hills I have seen their tracks 

 in the snow but never came across any of the animals them- 

 selves, their hunting for game being done almost wholly in 

 the night. Like other animals of the cat kind they can see 

 in the dark. I have called the animal a mountain lion, al- 

 though it is in no sense a lion. The animal goes under dif- 

 ferent names in different parts of the country. In the 

 eastern and middle states it is variously called panther, 

 painter, catamount and cougar — in Canada it is known as the 

 cougar — in New and Old Mexico and Arizona it is called 

 the puma, and in the Pacific, the mountain and plains states 

 it is called generally mountain lion. There are only three 

 species of wild animals of the cat kind within the borders of 

 the United States proper — the one just named above — the 

 others being the Canada lynx and the wildcat or bob cat. 



The mountain lion killed by Mr. Smith was chased by 

 his dog, a small courageous little house dog, into a hole in 

 the rocks. He was driven from his retreat by smoke, and 

 shot by Mr. Smith as he came out. 



No. 2. 



Theodore Roosevelt spent a number of years as a ranch- 

 man on the Little Missouri river in western North Dakota 

 when that country was very new and wild, and while it was 

 occupied only by cattlemen and hunters. While living the 

 life of a ranchman, he also did a good deal of hunting, and 

 from his experiences as a game hunter during that time he 

 has written four very interesting and instructive books, en- 

 titled ''Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," "Hunting Trips on 

 the Prairie," Hunting the Grizzly" and "The Wilderness 

 Hunter." These four books are without exception the best 

 hunting stories I have ever read. They are far more inter- 



