IN THE LOUISIANA CANEBRAKES 383 



and that the cougar had merely been feeding on its dead 

 body. But I have read of cases in which elk and large 

 deer were slain where the carcasses were said to have 

 shown wounds only on the flanks, and where the writers 

 believed with how much justification I cannot say 

 that the wounds had been inflicted by the claws. I should 

 be surprised to find that such was the ordinary method 

 with cougars of killing game of any kind ; but it is per- 

 haps unsafe to deny the possibility of such an occurrence 

 without more information than is at present available; 

 especially in view of the experience of Brutus Jackson, 

 which I give above. In a letter to Mr. Hornaday a New 

 Mexican hunter, Mr. J. W. Carter, of Truchas, states 

 that cougars rip with their claws in killing game, and 

 that, whether the quarry is a horse, deer, or calf, the 

 cougar begins to eat at the neck. When at bay a cougar 

 kills dogs by biting them, usually in the head ; the claws 

 are used merely to scratch or rip, or to drag the dog 

 within reach of the jaws, and to hold it for the fatal bite. 



Miss Velvin's studies of dangerous wild beasts in cap- 

 tivity show that the cougar is ordinarily more playful 

 and less wantonly ferocious than the big spotted cats; 

 but that there is a wide individual variation among cou- 

 gars, a few being treacherous, bad-tempered and danger- 

 ous. Mr. Bostock, the animal trainer, states that the 

 cougar is as a rule rather stupid and far less courageous 

 or dangerous than the other big cats, the proportion of 

 vicious individuals being very small. He regards bears 

 as being very dangerous. 



Mr. Charles Sheldon informs me that while on a 



