40 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
fifteen years ago^ and which they call a Catamount, but 
which from the description they give of it, I believe to have 
been no other than the Puma ( Fells Concolor of Linnseus). 
A man was going into the woods with his axe, when he was 
met by another man, who having just been alarmed by the 
sight of the animal in question, advised him not to go on. 
He however proceeded, and soon discovered the puma under 
the root of a fallen tree : having cut a stout club for himself, 
he threw his axe with his utmost force at the beast, but 
missed his aim, and it slowly walked away. The man re- 
turned to the settlement, and having procured guns and 
assistance, again proceeded to the woods, and found the animal 
near the place where he had been before seen. They fired 
and killed him, carried him home in triumph, and stuffed the 
skin ; this trophy was preserved many years at the house of 
Captain Copps, in Georgeville, in whose hall, I am told, it 
presented to a stranger entering, a very startling object. Both 
of the Merrills have seen it many times, Amos having resided 
within three miles of the house : they describe it as being 
four or five feet in length, exclusive of the tail, which was 
two and a half or three feet ; that it stood near three feet 
high, was in all respects a cat, with a round flattened face, 
large round paws, &c. ; the colour was a dull red, without 
marks or spots. Supposing the dimensions given to be ex- 
aggerated, through defective memory, there can be no doubt 
that the animal in question was a puma, as there is no other 
of the large cats to which the description will at all apply. 
Both of them are well acquainted with the lynx, of which 
they gave me a very correct general description, noticing 
particularly the black ear tufts, and the blue colour. The 
length of the tail too, as well as the hue, is a sufficient proof 
that it was not the Canadian Lynx. The species may pos- 
sibly even yet be found, though rarely, in our almost inter- 
minable forests. 
