28 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



the gloom, and the frightened horses whinnied and 

 stampeded. The cougar cried a number of times after- 

 ward, but the horses did not again answer. None of 

 them was killed, however; and next morning, after some 

 labor, all were again gathered together. In 1884 I had 

 a somewhat similar experience with a bear, in the Big 

 Horn Mountains. 



Occasionally, but not often, the cougars I shot snarled 

 or uttered a low, thunderous growl as we approached the 

 tree, or as the dogs came upon them in the cave. In the 

 death-grapple they were silent, excepting that one young 

 cougar snarled and squalled as it battled with the dogs. 



The cougar is sometimes tamed. A friend of mine 

 had one which was as good-natured as possible until it 

 was a year old, when it died. But one kept by another 

 friend, while still quite young, became treacherous and 

 dangerous. I doubt if they would ever become as trust- 

 worthy as a tame wolf, which, if taken when a very young 

 puppy, will often grow up exactly like a dog. Two or 

 three years ago there was such a tame wolf with the Colo- 

 rado Springs greyhounds. It was safer and more friendly 

 than many collies, and kept on excellent terms with the 

 great greyhounds; though these were themselves solely 

 used to hunt wolves and coyotes, and tackled them with 

 headlong ferocity, having, unaided, killed a score or two 

 of the large wolves and hundreds of coyotes. 



Hunting in the snow we were able to tell very clearly 

 what the cougars whose trails we were following had 

 been doing. GofFs eye for a trail was unerring, and he 

 read at a glance the lesson it taught. All the cougars 



