The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-10-27
WAYS OF THE PANTHER.
The Terror of the Children Of Northern
New York In Early Times.


New York In Early Times.
A recent article 10 the Forest and
Stream describes the habits of the oou-
gar or panther as seen in the forests of
northern New York, and | venture to
add something further as to the peculi-
arities of this animal From 1924 to
1s49 my home was in one of the sparse
" settled valleys of that region and l
had frequent reminders of this beast,
not only from hearsay, but from my
own observation and that of an imme-
date neighbor
The cougar (Felis concolor) was there
called panther or painter and also cata-
mount Panther was the terror of the
chi zen of that region. The legendary
"black beast" of the nursery, the bear,
though plentiful enough with u.s. ex-
cited no such terror in our minds as did
. suggestion that painter might catch
us. To scream like painter was under
stood as the most terrific of all screams
In that comparison the pillars of Her
cules were reached. But the boys of
that region all became hunters as soon
as they could carry gun, and soon out
grew their fears The stories of the
ferocity and monstrous leaps of our
panther suffered serious diminution
under an actual and frequent observa-
ton of the beast.
Some of my earliest ideas about this
animal came from being shown the car
cass of sheep lying in the crotch of a
big birch tree and about forty feet from
the ground. There was snow on the
ground, and it was plain to see that
some animal had brought it from we'll
fenced yard just across the road from
our house. In the yard one lamb lying
a few yards away from the other sheep
had had the top of its head knocked off
by blow from an animal which had
leaped long distance to strike the
lamb, and which had done it no further
violence. Several sheep lay dead in the
yard and partly eaten. Wolves and
cougars had agreed in hunting together;
but when it came to the repast the cat
like instinct of the cougar inclined him
to take his share into the tree beyond
the chance of interference.
Two cougars came one night into the
pasture Of farmer living mile south
of us and killed five sheep. carrying the
bodies few rods into the woods, and
after eating part, buried the remain
der very carefully with a cover of leaves
and dirt The farmers boys set a bear
trap and caught the male cougar the
first night. My hunting dog had a
habit, if was not going to hunt, of
going to this neighbours to see if he
could get his boys to go, and was there
that morning in time to go with them
to their trap. The dog, finding the ami
NAL in the trap, ran up to it and got
such blow from its paw as sent him
some yards away, and the panther
snatched piece of flesh from the dogs
shoulder blade, leaving bare piece Of
the bone as large as half-dollar and
in that plight he returned to me. That
evening at dusk was in the road half
a mile from our house, where had been
to drive the cows to pasture, when the
female mate of the captured cougar,
starting apparently from the side of the
mountain opposite to me and a quarter
Of mile away, walked slowly along
toward the place where her mate had
been killed and all the way, at short
intervals, giving such terrific screams
as had never heard before and as most
decidedly hurried my pace toward the
house, where | found the family stand
ing in the front yard to hear the same
alarming screams which had startled
me. Part of her notes seemed those of
anger and some of intense grief.
For half an hour she continued her
wailings, and then was heard no more.
Cougars rarely attack men, but are not
easily frightened when confronted.
Two of my fathers log choppers had
felled a pine tree at evening and next
morning approached it from the top, in
tending to out 1t into logs On the butt
of the tree they saw large cougar
lying apparently asleep. The men
agreed to give it a big scare and see how
far it could leap They ran along the
trunk of the tree and gave a joint
scream; the animal simply got up and
faced them. They reiterated, when the
beast quietly got off and waded off
through the snow.
A son of mine, travelling in Arizona,
camped one night under some trees,
After getting his coffee he lay down on
his blanket by the fire. Then cougar
jumped down from the tree beside him
and made off before the man could use
his gun.