CARNIVORA 233 



Game Commission, because of their destructiveness to deer, the stock- 

 men would only pay $20 bounty, as an indication of their estimate of 

 its destructiveness to stock. 14 After continuous trapping for years, 

 Bruce, California state lion hunter, estimated that there were, in 1919, 

 600 mountain lions in that state, that they killed 30,000 deer annually ; 

 in the next five years 165 lions were killed. 16 Hunter estimated that 

 each lion in California kills an average of one deer a week, or 52 per 

 annum. 16 



"One cougar killed five deer in a hundred-yard circle, all within a 

 week. ... I have examined the stomachs of many cougars killed in 

 westejrn Washington and never found anything but venison, although 

 in some sections they are said to feed occasionally on mountain beaver. 

 I know of only one instance of a cougar killing a mountain goat/' 17 

 Roosevelt says that deer are the accustomed prey of the mountain lion 

 and that it is also a dreaded enemy of sheep, pigs, calves, colts, etc., and 

 has been known to attack human beings. 18 Ho well, commenting on the 

 latter statement, says that "authentic instances of such attacks are ex- 

 ceedingly rare." 19 "It is practically impossible to raise colts in the 

 Shasta County hills on account of these pests. They destroy many hogs 

 and cattle also, but do not present so serious an impediment to the keep- 

 ing of these animals as in the case of horses." 20 



The American bobcats, wildcats and lynxes (genus Lynx} are much 

 smaller than any of the preceding Felidae. Consequently they are not 

 so destructive to the larger game and domesticated animals, but some- 

 times attack calves and colts, do much damage to lambs and sheep, 

 prey upon small mammals and birds and make "great havoc among 

 the chickens, turkeys and ducks of the planter," while "on a sheep 

 range where cats are numerous the losses among newly-born lambs 

 and kids are frequently enormous." 21 Bell estimated the damage done 

 to domestic stock by each wildcat at $50 per annum (an estimate not 



"Dixon, Food predilections of predatory and fur-bearing mammals, Journ. 

 Mammalogy, vi, 40, 1925. 



15 Bruce, The why and how of mountain lion hunting in California, California 

 Fish and Game, vni, 108-114, 1922; The problem of mountain lion hunting in 

 California, California Fish and Game, xi, 1-17, 1925. 



16 Hunter, The control of the mountain lion in California, California Fish and 

 Game, vn, 99-101, 1921. See also Miller, Journ. Mammalogy, xi, 15, 1930. 



17 Taylor and Shaw, Mammals and birds of Mount Rainier National Park, p. 57, 

 1927. 



18 Roosevelt, With the cougar hounds, Scribner's Magazine, xxx, 431-432, 1901. 

 18 Howell, TV. Amer. Fauna, No. 45, p. 42, 1921. 



^Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 16, p. 104, 1899. 



21 Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 45, p. 42, 1921. Poole, The economic status of the 

 bobcat, California Dept. Agric. Monthly Bull., xvui, 458-460, 1929. 



