FELINES OF THE NEW WORLD. 



177 



1 with two splendid brightly gleaming 

 Among all the mammals which I 

 le seal alone can vie with the puma 

 eauty of this feature, 

 the proud and gentle expression of 



this eye is deceptive. Wherever it is found 

 (and its domain extends from Pataaonia to 



o 



Canada), the puma has the reputation of 

 being a cruel and cowardly beast. Its size, 

 which is upwards of four feet, would enable 



Fig. Si. — The Puma c 



ittack the largest tame and wild 

 of America; but it leaves the horses, 

 and oxen unmolested, flees l^efore 

 d man, while it eagerly attacks sheep 

 ats, as well as monkeys, peccaries, 

 OS, and all mammals, birds, reptiles, 

 I of comparatively small size. Like 

 es, it prefers cautiously to slink up 

 ictim and surprise it with a bound, 

 pursues even the agile monkeys on 

 s with enormous and well-calculated 

 Every kind of habitat is alike to the 

 only it can find a safe retreat to rest 

 le treeless Pampas please it just 

 as the tumbled rocks of the moun- 

 the primeval forests. It swims across 

 ind climbs to the highest tree-tops 

 greatest ease. 



' Cougar (/■'i7/.t av/cc/fvi. 



The ra\'ages which the puma commits 

 among the flocks ha\'e made him detested 

 everywhere. The jaguar kills only a single 

 animal, if it suffices to satisfy his hunger; but 

 the puma flies at the throat of an animal, and 

 sucks its blood without touching its flesh. 

 Pumas ha\-e been killed after they had 

 slaughtered twenty sheep immediately before, 

 and their stomachs have been found to con- 

 tain nothino; but coag-ulated blood. One can 

 therefore easily understand that such butcheries 

 must cause the ra^-ager to be pursued with 

 untiring zeal and bitter hatred, and the pur- 

 suit is all the easier since the animal mav be 

 attacked without fear. In the Pampas the 

 Gauchos strangle him as they do the jaguar; 

 in the forests he is hunted with a couple of 



dogs, on seeing which he immediately takes 



'23 



