n THE FATHER OF GAME 55 



scend from their summer haunts in the higher 

 piirts 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 zoological 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 



