THE PUMA. 



the ordinary leopard. But, as the animal increases in size, the spots fade away, and, 

 when it has attained its perfect development, are altogether lost in the uniform tawny 

 hue of the fnr. 



Until it has learned from painful experience a wholesome fear of man, the Puma is 

 apt to be a dangerous neighbor. It is known to track human beings through long dis- 

 tances, awaiting an opportunity of springing unobservedly upon ~a heedless passer-by. 

 A well-known traveller in American forest lands told me candidly, that he always ran 

 away from " Grizzlys," /. e. grizzly bears, but that " Painters were of no account." He 

 said that as long as a traveller could keep a Puma in sight, he need fear no danger from 

 the animal, for that it would not leap upon him as long as its movements were watched. 



Even in those rare instances where the Puma, urged by fierce hunger, issued boldly 

 from the dark leafage of the woods, and ventured to track the very pathway that was 

 trodden by the travellers, there was yet no real danger. The Puma would cifeep 

 rapidly towards the party, and would, in a short time, approach sufficiently near to 

 make its fatal spring. But if one of the travellers faced sharply on the crawling animal, 



PUMA. Leopardus Concolor. 



and looked it full in the face the beast was discomfited at once, and slowly retreated, 

 moving its head from side to side, as if trying to shake off the influence of that calm 

 steady gaze to which it had never been accustomed, and which was a positive terror to the 

 rapacious animal. A caged leopard has displayed a similar uneasiness at a fixed gaze 

 of a spectator, and has finally been so quelled that in its restless walk it dared not 

 turn its face towards its persecutor. 



Although it is not an object of personal dread to the civilized inhabitants of the 

 forest lands, the Puma is a pestilent neighbor to the farmer, committing sad havoc 

 among his flock and herds, and acting with such consummate craft, that it can seldom 

 be arrested in the act of destruction, or precluded from achieving it. No less than 

 fifty sheep have fallen victims to the Puma in a single night. It is not, however, the 

 lot of every Puma to reside in the neighborhood of such easy prey as pigs, sheep, and 

 poultry, and the greater number of these animals are forced to depend for their sub- 

 sistence on their own success in chasing or surprising the various animals on which 

 they feed. As is the case with the jaguar, the Puma is specially fond of the capybara 

 and the peccary, and makes a meal on many smaller deer than even the latter animal. 



