Iron County register., 1890-01-30
THE CANADIAN TIGER.
In Strength and Ferocity the Panther Has
But Few Rivals.

But Few Rivals.
Perhaps the grizzly of the Rocky
mountains takes precedence of all North
American beasts as the terror and de-
light of hunters. In strength ne is ter
rifle, and he neither shows fear in the
presence of many nor exhibits any
special desire to court seclusion. In
strength and savagery he has a rival in
the panther, puma or cougar, as the
animal is variOuSly called. This beast,
though ranking, according to some au-
thorities, as third among the cat fami-
lies, and only surpassed in strength
and ferocity by the lion and Bengal
tiger, is ordinarily very retiring. and,
perhaps more than any other animal on
this continent, avoids the sight of man.
1t is only when brought to bay that his
enormous strength and agility are dis
PLAYED. \ few years ago an instance of
this was afforded by a cougar in the Adj
rondacks seizing a hunter by the shoul-
ders and bearing him in a single leap
over the top of a hemlOck tree.
The encounter of brave woman with
a panther near Vancouver, Il. c., is a
reminder not only of the audacity of the
animal in invading the haunts of man,
but of the presence yet in Canada of this
most famous of the eats of America
The panther is usually associated in the
mind with the tropical regions of Amer
lea or the territories bordering on the
Mexican frontier. But. if much less
frequent than formerly, when he proved
a pest of New England pioneers, he still
is found here and there, probably as far
north as he ever ranged. He still lin
gers in the forests and mountains of
British Columbia and of Northern New
York. and is said to be yet found in
Gaspe and elsewhere near the st. Law
renee. 1t is only few years since a
panther weighing nearly two hundred
pounds was shot in Northern Maine. In
Ontario it is probable that he NAV
vet haunt some of the swamps and
thickets. Within fourteen years an
eight foot puma was killed in the county
of MiddleseX and another in North
Wellington. \ panther hunt by score
or more OF farmers, who had lost many
sheep through the stealthy visits of tho
famous depredator of olden days, was
amongst the exciting events of rual
locality in Huron County about a dozen
years ago. The marvellous seclusion
ordinarily preserved by the beast is
probably one reason why it is SO rarely
seen by hunters or any one else. ''On
Erie's banks the tiger steals alone.
wrote Campbell long ago. The visits of
the beast to the barnyard have since be-
come more lonely and stealthy.
The northern range of our .FSkts conc0tor
has parallel amongst the big cats of
Asia, for the Bengal tiger is found in
the iungles of the Amour river, in
climate where the mercury falls lower in
winter than at Quebec.-Toronto En-
pire.
One Way to Skin Coon.
"A most remarkable feat that | saw
performed while on recent hunting
tour in Southern Missouri" said John /.
Martin, was that of native of that
part of the country, who skinned coon,
or rather removed the coon from the
skin through its mouth, thus preserving
the skin intact, which brought home
with me and am having mounted by
raxidermist. The feat consider most
remarkable one. This is no fish story;
it is the truth. The operator removed
the flesh and bones, even the bones or
the tail, feet and fingers, through the
mouth, using no other instrument than
a sharp pen-knife. st Louis Globe
Democrat.