New-York tribune., 1901-09-26

4 c oc,ors varying wonderfully in size, and sub
iect like many other beasts. to queer freaks or
character in occasional individuals fe, all this'
# is stated is almost invariably ignored in treat
| ing of the animal. Colonel RooseVelts own most
| instructive remarks on the subject are as fol-
! lows
Fables aside. the cougar is a very interesting
creature 1t IS found from the cold, aesoiate
| plains of Patagonia TO north or the CsHaua,,r a
| line, and lives alike among the snoWclad peatAe
OF the Andes and IN the steaming forests OF the
Amazon Doubtless careful investigation VIII
disclose several varying forms In an ahiihai
found over such immense tracts OF country anu
living under such utterly diverse coultio o.
But in its essential habits and traits the pie,
sinking nearly uni-cOlored cat seems 10 pe
much the same everywhere. whether living IN
mountain, open plain or forest uhder aiG.lc ha
cold or tropc heat When the settlements ee-
come thick, II retires to dense iolest, ua aS
swamp inaccessible mountain gorge, anu
moves about only at night; IN "tuef th daT and
il not infrequently roams during Ihe aay anu az.
ventures freely into the open. Deer are lts
customary prey when they are pientiiua' Dues puehs'
does and fawns being killed indlHerehu!.
Usually the deer is killed almost lnstanlale
ously. but occasionally there is quite soulle'
in which the cougar may get bruised. thongh,
as far / know, never seriously. II -
also dreaded enemy of sheep, pigs caves anu
especially colts, and when pressed by munger
a big male cougar Will Kill full grown morse
or COW, moose or wapiti. 1t is the special enemy
of mountain sheep In 1886, while huhtihS
white goats north of Clark's Fork of the Column
ba, in a region where cougar We're coIlthon' !
found them preyine as freely on the goats as on On
the deer 1t rarely catches antelope, put Is
quick TO seize rabbits, other small beasts, ana
even porcupines.
No animal not even the wolf is rarely seen
or so difficult TO get without dogs On the other
hand no other wild beast of its size and power
is so easy 10 kill by the aid of dogs. 1here are
many contradictions in its character. Like me
American wolf. it is certainly very much AFRAID
OF man: yet it ha btually follows the trail OF the
hunter solitary traveller. dogging his FOOT
steps. itself always unseen. have had thls
happen to me personally. When hungry ii Will
seize and carry off any dog; yet it Will some
times go up tree when pursued even py
single small dog wholly unable to do 1t the least
harm 1t is small wonder that the average
frontier settler should grow to regard almost
with superstition the great furtiVe cat Which ne
never sees, but of whose presence he is ever
aware. and OF whose prowess sinister proof is
sometimes afforded by the deaths not alone Of
his lesser stock, but even Of his mich COW or
saddle horse.
The cougar is as large. as powerful and as
formidahy armed the Indian panther, and
quite we'll able to attack man. yet the IN
stances of its having done are exceedingly
The vast majority of the tales to this
effect are undoubtedly inventions. But it is
foolish TO deny that such attacks on human
beings occur. There are a number of au-
thentic instances.
Although silent beast yet at times, espe-
cially during the breeding season, the males
utter wild scream, and the females also cry
call. | once heard one cry while proving for
game.
Occasionally but not often the cougars shot
snarled or uttered low, thunderous growl as
approached the tree, or as the dogs came
upon them in the cave. In the death srapple
they Were silent, excepting that one young
cougar snarled and squawed il battled with
the dogs.
shot five bobcats: two old males weighing
80 and 81 pounds respectively and three fe-
males, weighing, respectively, %, II and Is
pounds. Webb killed two, male of % pounds
and female OF 20; and Stewart two females
one of - pounds. and the other young one of
II pounds.
I sent the cougar and bobcat skulls to DR..
Merriam the Biological Survey, Department
Of Agriculture Washington, He wrote
follows THE big cougar skull is certainly
a giant l have compared it with the largest in
our collection from British Columbia and Wy
oming and find it larger than either. 1t is in
fact the largest skull of any member of the Felis
coLcolor group / have seen. A hasty prelimi-
nary examination indicates that the animal is
quite different from the northwest coast form,
but that it is the same my horse killer from
Wyoming-Felis hippoestes. In typical Felis
copcoor from Brazil the skull is lighter. the
bIaincase thinner and more smoothly rounded,
devoid of the strongly developed sagittal crest;
the under jaw straighter and lighter.
Your series of skullc from Colorado is incom-
parably the largest, most complete and most
valuable series ever brought together from any
single locality. and will be of inestimable value
in determining the amount of individual varia-
ton"