84 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



are so loud and penetrating 1 that no person can hear them 

 without feeling a thrill run through his body, and, if unarmed* 

 without taking excellent care to avoid an encounter with it if 

 possible. 



An adult male weighs, on an average, from eighty to one 

 hundred and lifty pounds, but in portions of the south, where 

 the climate is favourable and food abundant, it attains greater 

 weight than this. One shot near Elbow Creek, in Southern 

 Florida, in December, 1873, measured nine feet four inches in 

 length, and weighed two hundred and forty pounds. The skin 

 of this monster is now, I believe, to be seen in the parlour of 

 the Argonauta Rowing Club, at Bergen Point, New Jersey. 

 The usual length of the cougar varies from four and a half to 

 Jive feet, from nose to tail, bat I have heard persons say that 

 it sometimes attains a length of body of seven or more feet 

 in portions of Florida and Texas. I have hunted in some of 

 the best game regions of these States and bagged a cougar 

 occasionally, but I never saw one possessing such proportions, 

 nnd I am rather doubtful if it exists, as that measurement 

 would bring it up to the standard of the lion or grix/.ly bear. 

 The two largest that I killed in the West measured respectively 

 fifty-four and fifty-six inches, exclusive of the tail, and they 

 were considered to be good-sized animals. The longest cauda 

 measured was thirty-three inches, so that the animal had a 

 total length of seven feet Jive inches. The height of the 

 tallest one I ever killed was a fraction over thirty-one inches; 

 the body was thirty inches round ; and the head was a little 

 more than twenty inches long. 



Twenty-four hours after the death of the largest, I had an 

 opportunity of weighing ii, and it turned the scales at one 

 hundred and thirty-seven and a half pounds. This weight, when 

 propelled by strong muscles, and placed in intense activity by 

 rage, is no mean force for an unarmed man to encounter and 

 vanquish; hence, one cannot well blame the Indians for the 

 fear of the animal they display, or their pride in killing one. 



The colour of the cougar is a brownish-yellow above, and a 

 pale red or dusky-white beneath; the lower jaw and throat 

 are white ; and the whiskers, which are rather long, are white 



