The National tribune., 1889-11-14

with the utmost ease the whole mental clothing
Of their artificial experiences, aud return in
naked simplicity TO the habits' of their ances-
tors" When house-cats become feral, Charles
St. John asserts that they are sure to hunt the
larger animals gsuch as hares, rabbits grouse,
etc. only" Rats and mice are heneeforth dis
regarded entirely, and so far as his experience
went, nothing would cure them of their preda-
tory habits but cropping the ears. When this
was done, the penetration of cold dew from
grasses proved so disagreeable as to prevent
| them, in great measure, from hunting.
Finally, the same excellent observer states
that, whatever color the parents of the semi
wild cats may have been, those bred out Of
them are almost invariably of the beautiful
brindled gray OF the true wildcat"
st. John refers here to the hue of the northern
European animal. In America the ground color
Of the southern variety especially is yellowish-
gray, aud the coat Is harsh aud staring Felis
catus the wild cat proper, has q shorter and
moro bushy black ringed tail than its domestic
ally. stands higher on its legs in proportion to
the size, its head is rOunder aad coarser, and
the ensemble is moro massive. On the average
the feral specimen is decidedly the larger, has
more abundant whiskers, and ia the male the
solos of the feet are black. There is also dark
streak along the spine, and the sides and limbs
are striped. w. n. LOckington says that it is
" a very savage animal, oven as q kitten" and
St. John informs Us that being extremely
strong and ferocious," 1t will readily attack
man-and. in fact, has attacked him-Hhen
brought to bay. "a 1t lives" he says, " in lonely
and inaccessible ranges of rock and mountain,
and probably on account Of the solitary char
acter of its life and its consequent unacquaint-
ance with human devices, it is by no means
di fiieult to deceive, and will take any bait
| readily" Further, in common with the fox,
| the wildcat has this popularity. that when
| one is caught In 3 trap and killed, if the body
4 hn Ioft q rat bn nit
| In n considerable distance of the spot will GER
| tainly come to it." 1t may be added to these
| statements that such animals of this kind as
| have come under the authors notice in tropical
| America, were irreclaimably savage from the
| earliest age They are of all Felide those
which are the most ferocous in appearance,
and their dispositions appear to be exactly con-
| formable with their looks. On no occasion has
| any method awaited to alter in the least degree
| that aversion which they seem to entertain to-
| ward man, and not ono of those which it was
attempted to tame, exhibited at any period
during its captivity the slightest trace of modi-
fcatiOn under the treatment to which they
| were subjected.
| We now come to a creature-Felis concolOr
which has many names, and about which a
| great variety of opinions are entertained. In
| the first place, "the American panther" is not q
panther at all, though in its habits of life it is
| said, and when taken as q whole, incorrectly
4 SAID, 10 closely GeSSIlDie the ASl1llS leopard.
The puma is also called the cougar, aud has
a variety of titles besides. E. f. i'm Thurn
observes that in South America, and particu-
| larry in Guiana, all species of cats take their
| names from the kind of prey upon which they
chiefly subsist. As for example. the puma is
the deer-tiger, the Felis nigra the tapir tiger,
| the Felis macnera the peccary tiger. How
| ever this may be, Bates and Burton also derive
the word cougar from sassu-arana, which means
| 90 false deer" and which has been corrupted
| through the French out of nearly all semblance
| to its original form. The puma, which is the
largest aud most formidable of American Fell
| de after the jaguar, ranges from the Straits Of
| Magellan northward into the sub-arctic climate
| of the British Provinces. Along these latter
| parallels the animals adult weight is estimated
at $50 pounds, its length of head and body at
about four feet-Mivart gives it as 40 inches.
| hOwever-and it stands somewhat over two
| feet at the shoulder. Its skull is dispropor-
| tionately small though the Uranium has the
| same width as that OF the leopard, but is not So
| long and, like the common cat, the hyoid bone
| to which the root of the tongue is attached, is
| connected with the skull by an osseOus chain
| instead of by ligaments. The body has no
markings and the general color is reddish
brown or gray. Newly born pumas exhibit both
indistinct spots and stripes on the back and
| sides, but these disappear by the end of the
first year. In other respects this creature
shows all those well-marked characteristics of
the feline family, which have been already
enumerated
When we pass from its anatomy TO its char
acter and habits, however, not the royal tiger
himself gathers about him greater tumble of
diverse and irreconcilable opinions. It would
DO impossible to onumerate these here, but it is
certainly not too much TO say that the traveller
Ia regions which the puma frequents will find
the views of their inhabitants concerning his
prowess to be in exact correspondence with
their preparedness, in the way of arms espeei-
ally The Indian with a bow and arrow having
a fire hardened point, speaks to one about the
puma beneath Central American jaeal in an al
together different tone from that adopted by the
western settler who carries a rifle. One seems to
be listening to accounts of different creatures,
and in truth this is to great extent the fact.
What was said of tho tiger, panther aud bear
in this regard fully applies to tho puma also.
The animal Is too powerful and too well pro-
vded with means of oifense not to be dangerous
when its intelligence does not prevent it from