20 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



had feasted heartily on the remains, while the cougar, 

 whose tracks were evident here and there at a little dis- 

 tance from the carcass, had seemingly circled around it, 

 and had certainly not interfered with the bear, or even 

 ventured to approach him. Now, if a cougar would ever 

 have meddled with a large bear it would surely have 

 been on such an occasion as this. If very much pressed 

 by hunger, a large cougar will, if it gets the chance, kill 

 a wolf; but this is only when other game has failed, and 

 under all ordinary circumstances neither meddles with 

 the other. When I was down in Texas, hunting peccaries 

 on the Nueces, I was in a country where both cougar and 

 jaguar were to be found; but no hunter had ever heard 

 of either molesting the other, though they were all of 

 the opinion that when the two met the cougar gave the 

 path to his spotted brother. Of course, it is never safe 

 to dogmatize about the unknown in zoology, or to gen- 

 eralize on insufficient evidence; but as regards the North 

 American cougar there is not a particle of truth of any 

 kind, sort, or description in the statement that he is the 

 enemy of the larger carnivores, or the friend of man; 

 and if the South American cougar, which so strongly 

 resembles its Northern brother in its other habits, has de- 

 veloped on these two points the extraordinary peculiar- 

 ities of which Mr. Hudson speaks, full and adequate 

 proof should be forthcoming; and this proof is now 

 wholly wanting. 



Fables aside, the cougar is a very interesting creature. 

 It is found from the cold, desolate plains of Patagonia 

 to north of the Canadian line, and lives alike among the 



