IN THE FAR WEST. 83 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE COUGAR AND LYNXES. 



The cougar Variety of its nninos Size, weight, strength, colour, and 

 general characteristics Its peculiarities when treed How i urine rs kill 

 it Anecdotes of its courage A light with a wolf and a bear 

 Desperate struggle between a cougar and an unarmed man in Oregon 

 Two kittens captured Death of the dam A wild cougar plays with 

 a man in Washington Teiritory His fright and escape An episode 

 in Minnesota My first cougar A weird funeral ceremony among the 

 Digger Indians Why the Californians are called Tar Heads My 

 next capture, and another form of an Indian funeral A hunt in the 

 Cascade Range Death of a cougar My companion wounded Legend 

 of an enchanted lake A cougar cripples an Indian Daiigerous cha- 

 racter of the animal The best time for hunting it A night hunt and 

 its serious result Death of two cougars Other members of the eat 

 family Difference between lynxes and true cats How to distinguish 

 them Lynx hunts I kill lour in one mouth Characteristics of the 

 genus Lynx-hunting as a sport. 



THE cougar (Fells concolor] boasts a larger variety of names 

 than any animal on the Continent, being known as the puma, 

 mountain lion, California lion, painter, and panther, besides 

 the first mentioned ; and some persons, in writing of sport 

 in America, have made all these cognomens into distinct 

 animals, and have gone so far as to give them different 

 characteristics and varied degrees of ferocitv. 



O / 



The cougar is the largest of the Felidw found in the United 

 States, except the jaguar, or Mexican tiger (/''. oncu], but that 

 is confined in its northern range to portions of Texas, and is 

 nowhere abundant, not even along the Brazos River. The 

 former is quite common in the wooded regions beyond the Rocky 

 Mountains, and its sharp, high screams in early morning 

 frequently send the blood bounding through the veins of the 

 wanderer amid forest depths. Though not often a dangerous 

 foe, until brought to bay or roused by hunger, owing to its 

 natural cautiousness and timidity of character, yet its shrieks 



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