80 WILD ANIMALS. 



its most attractive forms, their springs are taken so lightly, and 

 apparently without the slightest effort, but withal made so swiftly, 

 that occasionally the eye can scarcely follow their movements. 



The variety of these animals found inLaPlata chiefly prey on deer, 

 ostriches, and small quadrupeds, and are not dangerous to man ; 

 but in Chili and some adjoining countries pumas sometimes 

 destroy horses, and even attack human beings. Their onset is 

 made in a similar manner to the jaguar's, that is by springing on 

 to the back and dislocating the neck with the paws. "When one 

 has eaten its fill it covers the remains of its feast with bushes and 

 lies down to protect it — a proceeding watched frequently by the 

 condors, which wheel and circle in the air above, and occasionally 

 swoop down upon the carcass, then being driven away, rise together 

 on the wing, which attracts the notice of the hunters, and from this 

 sign they know a puma is watching its prey, and so seek it out. 



These animals are said to be exceedingly crafty, and when pur- 

 sued will often doable, and then suddenly make a vigorous leap to 

 one side, wait till the pursuer has over-shot the spot. They 

 are excellent climbers, and in Chili are generally treed and shot, 

 but in other parts the expert Gauchos frequently capture them 

 with the lasso. 



The puma, or, as i1» is called there, the panther, is sometimes to 

 be met with in the wooded districts of the Adirondacks in New 

 York State. They used to be very numerous, but the State Go- 

 vernment in 1871 offered a reward of $20 for every animal killed, 

 and the slaughter that ensued in consequence has nearly extermi- 

 nated them. The hunters in these mountains, however, still tell of 

 hair-breadth escapes they experience from these crafty creatures. 

 The distance they can leap when springing upon a deer is described 

 as being so great that the measurements given would be almost 

 incredible if they were not attested by men of repute. A spring of 

 over twenty feet is by no means uncommon, and measurements 

 have been made that show they can spring upwards of sixty feet 

 from the vantage-point of rising ground or ledge of rocks. The 

 force of their blow after such an impetus can be understood ; it 

 frequently is sufficient to knock good-sized animals off their feet, 

 and send them flying some distance away. 



