2 52 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



than 300 yards or a quarter of a mile when pursued on horseback. 

 It invariably stands at bay with its back to a bush or a rock- 

 In strong contradistinction to the habit of the Felis onca 

 (jaguar), F.c. puma, when hunting, kills a number of animals from a 

 flock or herd. To one only of these kills, however, does it return, 

 and it always makes some pretence of burying the victim singled 

 out for its meal, throwing upon the body in many cases merely a 

 small bunch of thorns. This custom of the puma is frequently 

 taken advantage of by the shepherds, who poison the chosen 

 carcass. The puma, ninety times out of a hundred, makes its first 

 meal upon the entrails of the victim or upon the thigh inside of the 

 groin. 



The destruction wrought by pumas upon flocks of sheep is 

 immense. One animal killed upwards of 100 head from among a 

 single Hock. One night alone its total amounted to fourteen. 

 Another point in connection with the predatory habits of the puma 

 is that it will travel a long distance, even as much as ten or twelve 

 miles, after killing. 



Its method of attack, judging from an examination of its victims, 

 appears to be to spring upon the shoulders of its quarry and to 

 break its neck. Cases are reported of pumas attacking horses, but 

 no instance of this came under my own notice. They generally 

 select a stormy and tempestuous night during which to make their 

 depredations. It is rather curious, as occasionally happens, to see 

 a herd of cows with their calves take up the trail of a puma with a 

 great deal of lowing and fuss, but they do not follow it for any 

 distance. 



Darwin writes that the puma is a very silent animal, uttering 

 no cry even when wounded, and only rarely during the breeding 

 season. One moonlight night, in a forest by Lake Argentino, a 

 couple of pumas came out of the dark and began to walk round 

 and round the camp, and continued to do so for more than an hour, 

 all the time keeping up their peculiar cry. On no other occasion 

 — though, as I have said, pumas or rather the evidences of their 

 presence, accompanied us through our long journeys^ — did I hear 

 them break silence. 



Pumas are more often destroyed in winter, when the snow 



