n THE FATHER OF GAME 53 



"Sometimes, when the hunter is stalking the 

 deer in the deep recesses of the forest, he is star- 

 tled by a fiendish cry, — a cry so unearthly and so 

 weird that even the ma*i of stoutest heart will 

 start in affright ; a cry that can only be likened to 

 a scream of demoniac laughter. This is the cry 

 of the male panther. If it is answered by the 

 female, the response will be similar to the wail of 

 a child in terrible pain." 



To this may be added the testimony of Mr. W. A. 

 Baillie-Grohman, one of the sanest and most trust- 

 worthy writers upon life in the Rocky Mountains, 

 quoted from his excellent book " Camps in the 

 Rockies " : 



" Other strange sounds fall on the ear as I pro- 

 ceed with quickened step toward camp, sounds 

 that you never hear in daytime, when, usually, 

 oppressive stillness reigns in the great upland for- 

 ests. The hoot of the owl is one of the most 

 quaintly weird; but it is not like the unearthly 

 wail of the puma, or mountain-lion, demoniacal 

 and ghoulish as no other sound in the wide realm 

 of nature. As it re-echoes through the forests 

 you involuntarily shudder, for it is more like a 

 woman's long-drawn and piteous cry of terrible 

 anguish than any other sound you could liken it 

 to. Once heard, it will never be forgotten ; and it 

 can no more be compared to the jabber of the 

 coyote or the howl of the hyena, than a baby's cry 

 of displeasure to its mother's piercing shriek as 



