DESERT ANIMALS 



157 



knives. It is not more than once in two or 

 three days that a meal comes within reach and 

 he has no notion of allowing it to get away. 



The panther, or as he is more commonly 

 called, the mountain lion, is no such square- 

 built mass of muscle, no such hundle of energy 

 as the wild cat, though much longer and larger. 

 The figure is wiry and serpentine, and has all the 

 action and grace of the tiger. It is pre-eminently 

 a figure for crouching, sneaking, springing, and 

 dragging down. His struggle-f or-lif e is perhaps 

 not so desperate as that of the cat because he lives 

 high up in the desert mountains where game is 

 more plentiful ; but he is a very good struggler 

 for all that. Occasionally one hears his cry in 

 the night (a cry that stops the yelp of the coyote 

 very quickly and sets the ears of the jack-rabbit 

 a-trembling) but he is seldom seen unless sought 

 for. Even then the seeker does not usually 

 care to look for him, or at him too long. He 

 has the tiger eye, and his jaw and claw are too 

 powerful to be trifled with. He will not attack 

 one unless at bay or wounded ; but as a moun- 

 tain prowler he is the terror of the young deer, 

 the mountain sheep, and the rabbit family. 



One sees the gray wolf but little oftener than 

 the mountain lion. Sometimes in the very 



The moun- 

 tain lion. 



Habits of 

 the moun- 

 tain lion. 



