THE COUGAR. 409 



prostrate animal, and gored and trampled him until I drove 

 her away. 



At another time I was a witness of a Cougar seeking his 

 prey, but it was not of so large or so noble a s^Decies as 

 that I have just mentioned. One day, while shooting ducks 

 on a marsh near Sumas Lake, I saw a large animal going 

 through some eccentric motions, and drawing near, I saw it 

 was a Cougar trying to catch something that was concealed 

 beneath a cotton-wood log about ten feet long and three feet 

 in diameter. He would stand erect behind the log, and with 

 his paws would give it a heavy jerk, rolling the log a yard or 

 more, and at the same time would spring over it and strike 

 heavy blows, first with one paw and then with the other, at 

 some object on the ground. I watched him roll the log 

 over several times before he saw me, but when he did, he 

 beat a hasty retreat. Curious to know what he was trying 

 to catch, I, by the aid of a pole that I found near, rolled 

 the log over, and found — two mice. It was a most ridicu- 

 lous and awkward figure that the great brute made in try- 

 ing to catch his diminiitive prey. 



There is a popular fallacy to the effect that the Cougar 

 secures his prey by remaining concealed over some game- 

 trail, on the limb of a tree, and that by a sudden sirring 

 from his secure elevation he seizes and strikes his prey dead. 

 In Washington it is usually at least a hundred feet to 

 the first limb of the trees — a very inconvenient lieight for a 

 Cougar, or, in fact, for any living quadruped, to spring from. 

 I have tracked Cougars several times in the snow, where 

 they were on the trail of Deer, and twice have found them 

 feasting on their quarry. In every case the mode of pro- 

 cedure had been the same. They had crept stealthily 

 behind the Deer until near enough, when, by a sudden 

 spring, they had struck it down. Death in each case must 

 have been instantaneous, as they lay dead in their tracks, 

 and there was no sign of a struggle. 



One of tlie few authentic instances of a Cougar seizing 

 a large animal is given by Mr. John Harkness, of Clear- 

 brook, Washington. One June evening, he went to drive 



