542 



KI']rORT OF STATE CEOLOfJIST. 



ageous Ijeasts that will stalk a man and attack him without provo- 

 cation. That they will fight desperately when brought to bay, 

 goes without sa;ying. Most carnivorous, and many herbivorous ani- 

 mals will do the same. But courage is not one of the common at- 

 tributes of the cougar — at least not of the cougar of the present 

 da}^ although its habits have doubtless been greatly modified where 

 it has come into conflict with guns and hunting dogs. President 

 Roosevelt, who has hunted them extensively and has published 

 one of the best accounts of their habits (Scribner's Magazine, 1901), 

 thinks they are always cowardly and will never attack a man. 

 There is good evidence, however, that some of these animals in the 

 early days, when they had not become acquainted with white men 

 and their weapons, showed considerable courage, and also that they 

 sometimes lay in wait for game and sprang upon it, or even upon 

 a man from vantage points. 



Their favorite game, under natural conditions, seems to have 

 been deer. These creatures were stalked until the cougars were 

 within a short distance, when they rushed upon them with a suc- 

 cession of tremendous leaps, springing upon their backs and biting 

 at the neck and throat till the quarry dropped from loss of blood or 

 exhaustion. On the cattle ranges of the west they have been very 

 destructive at times. Although they usually kill calves, colts and 

 sheep, they do not hesitate to bring down an old bull or a full 

 grown horse if other food is scarce. When an animal the size of 

 a sheep is killed, it is often carried away, especially if there are 

 young to be fed, but larger animals are eaten on the spot. Smaller 

 animals are also killed and eaten, and it is said that the cougars 

 will even kill and eat porcupines and skunks. 



The den is usually placed in a rocky cavern or under a ledge. 

 The young are born in such a den just at the end of winter. They 

 are from two to four in number, and are naked and blind when 

 born, but soon become active and playful. The young climb trees 

 readily, but the adults seldom do so unless closely pursued. 



The species was early exterminated because it came into direct 

 conflict with man. Its great size, strength and ferocity aroused 

 the dread of the early settlers and, rightly or wrongly, they con- 

 sidered their lives endangered by the presence of these beasts. The 

 added effect of their raids on the poultry yard and the stock yard 

 made the conflict the more deadly. As Stone and Cram have 

 pointed out, no species of animal can long survive where its pres- 

 ence is feared by man, and hence the pioneers exerted themselves 

 to their utmost to exterminate the species. 



