6 UNITED STATES AND MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 



"Near Los Nogales, in the month of June, we pursued a female panther, which we succeeded in wounding very severely, the 

 bullet having shattered the hind leg several inches above the ankle. It uttered a kind of howling cry, and fled as rapidly 

 aa it could, and disappeared. Six days afterwards we came very suddenly and unexpectedly upon this same animal, lying partly 

 concealed in a fissure among the rocks. Although we were within teu feet of it, when we saw it with its mouth opened, showing 

 its t^eth in a very threatening manner, and uttering at the same time a deep growl, it did not offer to spring. As soon as it was 

 killed, we observed the old wound. The weather had been warm and worms were busy in the place where the leg was broken, 

 and the animal had become so emaciated as to lead us to believe that it had remained in that spot during the entire six days, 

 certainly without food, and perhaps without water. 



44 "^r 



Those panthers that we have observed were always found in the most solitary places, generally where there were thick 

 bushes, and in the vicinity of rocky spots, affording caverns for secure concealment, and in which to bring forth their young. They 

 always manifested great shyness, and fled rapidly at the eight of us, rendering it difficult to get within gun shot of them. 



" On one or two occasions we have heard their cry in the night, when they seemed to be at a distance, but in sight of our 



+ 



camp lires." — (Kennerly.) 



*^ Felis concohr ; Cuguar or Panther, of the Texans; Leon, of the Mexicans ; Chimbica, of the Cochimiea of Lower California, 

 Yutin, of the Apaches ; Miztli, of the ancient Mexicans; Pagi, of the Chilenos; Puma, of the Peruvians. 



**A remarkable fact in respect to the panther is related by Clavigero, in his history of Lower California. — (See Book I, 

 chapter 16.) According to this author, the puma exercised so severe a rule over that unhappy peninsula that the work of 

 civilization, commenced by missionary Jesuits, never could rise above a certain elementary state. The missions and presidios 

 established there, after years and years of labor, could never succeed in raising their own supply of domestic animals, but had 

 to depend for that on the States of Sinaloa, Sonora, and other parts of the Mexican empire. 



**The prodigious spreading of the 'Puma' over the peninsula of California seems to have been caused by a superstitious 

 belief on the part of the natives there, who did not dare to kill or disturb this animal in any way. It became one of the 

 missionary labors to gradually overcome and remove this singular notion. Indeed, the state of civilization among the California 

 Indians has been so low that they in some respects depended on the success of the sporting puma. Thus Clavigero states that the 

 hungry Indians used to watch the gathering of the buzzards, and searched the ground carefully whenever they observed a 

 njmber of these scavenger birds, the acute scent of which leads them always unfailingly to the spot where some carcass was 

 deposited upon or under ground By these means these miserable savages were enabled to discover the remains of a puma 



feast, which such a lordly beast, after the fashion of all the 'Felidae or Canidae' had hidden away here, and slightly covered 

 with soil. 



" In the regions of the Rio Bravo del Norte, and other sections along the boundary line, the puma acts a less prominent part. 

 Here he is eagerly hunted by the white and red man, and especially by the cattle-raising sons of the half breed Mexicans. 



" The numerous herds of wild cattle, mustang, mules, and horses, besides plentiful other game in the fertile valleys and table 

 lands of the Lower Rio Bravo, Nueces, and other Texan rivers, form a rich support for a vast number of pumas and jaguars. 



" The habits of the puma seem to be nocturnal, and it is during the hours afcer^ dark that his mournful note is heard resounding 

 through the solitude of the deserts. The note listened to once attentively is apt to make a deep lasting impression 



"The different native names as pronounced in Spanish sound very appropriately to the note, and it is likely that the cry of the 

 animal forms the base of its names. The note itself is often several times repeated, with intervals of from two to four minutes - 

 As night time advances, the cry is heard but rarely. 



"A puma was killed on the Rio Bravo, between Fort Duncan and Laredo. It was full grown and of considerable size, 

 measuring from the nose to the insertion of the tail nearly four feet. This one was the head of a family, consisting of himself, 

 a mother and two young ones. During his struggle with the hunters and dogs he raised a terrible cry, twice or thrice, to express 

 his rage, and perhaps also to give to his family the notice of danger. The latter seemed to have retreated immediately after 

 hearing the warning, as the hunters, after despatching the old one, could trace the fresh tracks of both the mother and the two 

 young going down on the river side."— (A. Schott.) 



FELIS OKZA, Linn. (p. 86.)— Jaguar ; American Tiger. 



Old World 



size and strength; little inferior to it in tliese respects^ it is^ however, less dreaded by hunters. 

 The specimens at present before me do not permit any very accurate description of the species. 



Texas 



except as to its color. 



In the former, the ground color of back and sides is of a pale golden yellow, of the belly 



-white. The top and sides of the head, neck, and shoulders, the legs all round, and the belly ' 



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J 

 I 



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