II THE FATHER OF GAME 55 
scend from their summer haunts in the higher 
parts of the mountains and increase the number 
in the valleys,—in other words, they follow the 
game; and it is then that the rancher’s herd suffers 
most, and that in severe weather his corrals are 
most often invaded. Now and then a particular 
panther is known to be the author of several suc- 
cessive outrages, and when he has been killed it is 
usually found that he is an old fellow whose age 
and worn teeth have put him behind in the com- 
petition of the woods, and led him to devote his 
declining energies to the easier and safer raiding 
of cattle and sheep. 
At present the business of breeding horses and 
donkeys in the mountain valleys of northern Mexico 
is almost prevented by the prevalence of pumas. 
When taken early, the kittens become interesting 
and docile pets, as is frequently seen in South 
America; but, as a rule, they become too treacher- 
ous and uncontrollable, with advancing age, to make 
them safe companions. It is, of the larger cats, the 
one least frequently seen in the shows of animal- 
trainers, although common in zodlogical gardens 
and travelling menageries, where it breeds freely. 
The hunting of the puma is hardly classed as a 
sport in this country. The Gauchos and aboriginal 
nomads of Patagonia ride it down on horseback, 
and kill it with their bolas or lances at short range. 
Our Texan cow-boys occasionally meet one on the 
prairie, and then have the fun of lassoing and 
