80 



WILD ANIMALS OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. 



logical Park, and while it may not be the only call of the mountain 

 lion, it is certainly very different from the wild scream usually 

 attributed to it. 



During the winter of 1809, A. Henry Iligginson, while camped at 

 the southern border of the park, in the vicinity of Nyack, found 

 these animals abundant throughout the forest. One was shot near 

 his camp, and the carcasses of two deer were found on wdiich they had 

 been feeding. As his man was returning late one evening a moun- 

 tain lion followed him to within 50 yards of the cabin door, as was 

 shown by its tracks the next morning. It seems to be a common 

 habit of these animals to follow a man at a safe distance, but there 

 are few records of their attacking human beings. It is not unusual 

 to find their tracks near camp in the morning, but the animals are 



Fic. 11, — Two luonntnin lions th;it will kill no moro gamo. The only good mountain 

 lions in c! big game country arc those gathered in by hunters and trappers. 



SO silent and stealthy that they are rarely seen, even where most 

 numerous. 



In this region their food consists mainly of the Avhite-tail deer, 

 which abound on the west iilope of the park, but it is prol)able that 

 they get some elk and moose and occasionally mountain sheep and 

 goats. When a deer is killed they often return to the carcass for a 

 second feed, but as often move on and kill another deer Avhen hungry. 

 One deer every few days would be a fair estimate of the game de- 

 stroyed by each of these big cats, and a hundred deer a year would 

 probably not be too high for each adult. 



The young are usually three or four to a litter, but as many as 

 eight are recorded for this species. As soon as old enough to travel 

 with their mother they join in the venison feasts, which, to satisfy 



