48 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 
beast. The female is by far the better hunter and 
does not lose so many deer as the male.” 
The puma by no means restricts himself to 
venison, however, and latterly has been able to 
get very little of it. He eats rabbits, ground- 
squirrels, and all the small animals that come in 
his way, including many sorts of birds, like par- 
tridges, that nest upon the ground. ‘Cougars are 
either particularly fond of porcupines,” says Mer- 
riam, “or else are frequently forced by hunger to 
make a distasteful meal, for certain it is that large 
numbers of these beasts are destroyed by them. 
Indeed, it often happens that a panther is killed 
whose mouth and lips, and sometimes other parts 
also, fairly bristle with the quills of this formidable 
rodent.” Even mice are not despised. 
Like other cats it is fond of fish, and can some- 
times catch them alive. Though not addicted to 
bathing, it is by no means afraid of the water. 
Dr. Suckley tells us that one exhibited for several 
years in San Francisco, a generation ago, was capt- 
ured by being noosed from a steamboat, while 
swimming the Columbia River there, a mile and a 
half wide. Probably reptiles are not refused at 
a pinch, as the jaguar is known to eat iguanas, and 
to be fond of the crocodile, which it seizes and con- 
quers in its native element. Insects and snails, 
even, do not come amiss. Carrion, however, seems 
never to be touched, though hunters agree that an 
animal lately killed by other hands, will be accepted, 
