The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-24

of sight and hearing if the chase last
| ed any length of time. Their business
was 10 bring the quarry to bay or put
| it up a tree and then to stay with it
| and make a noise until the hunters
| came up During this hunt there were
! two or three occasions when they had
! a cougar up a tree for at least three
hours before we arrived, and on several
/ occasions Golf had known them to keep
a cougar up a tree overnight, and to
be still barking around the tree when
the hunters at last found them the
following morning.
THE fighting dogs always trotted at
the heels of the horses, which had be-
come entirely accustomed to them, and
made no objection when they literally
rubbed against their heels. The fighters
never left us until we came to where
we could hear the hounds barking
freed or with their quarry at bay.
Then they tore in a straight line 10
the sound. They were the ones who
were expected to do the seizing and
take the punishment, though the
minute they actually had hold of the
cougar, the hounds all piled on, too,
and did their share of the killing; but
the sellers fought the head, while the
hounds generally took hold behind. All
of them, fighters and hounds alike
were exceedingly good natured and at
fectionate with their human friends,
though short tempered to a degree
with one another.
The pack had many interesting pecu-
liarities, but none more so than the
fact that four of them climbed trees.
Only one of the hounds, little Jimmie,
ever tried the feat; but of the fighters
not only Tony and Badly, but big Turk
climbed every tree that gave them any
phanHa The ninWnnG and RaHarG
low. multiforked. and usually sent off
branches from near the ground. In
consequence the dogs could by in
dustrious effort, work their way almost
to the top.
1.-The 'bobcat' frequently encountered
on this trip is known in the books as
a lynx. Touching the variation in
nomenclature Colonel Roosevelt has
this to say:
Like all people of European descent
who have gone into strange lands. we
Americans have christened our wild
beasts with a fine disregard for their
specific and generic relations. We cal
led the bison buffalo" as long as it
existed. and we still call the big stag
an elk" instead of using for it the
excellent term wapiti; on the other
hand, to the true elk and the reindeer
we give the new names of moose and
caribou-eXcellent names, too, by the
way. The prong buck is always called
antelope, though it is not an antelope
at ALL and the white goat is not a
goat; while the distinctive name of
big horn is rarely used for the noun
tain sheep. In most cases. however, It
is mere pedantry to try to upset pop
ular custom in such matters, and
where, as with the bobcat. a perfectly
good name is taken, it would be better
for scientific men to adopt it. I may
add that in this particular of nomen-
clature we are no worse sinners than
other people. The English in Ceylon.
the English and Dutch in South Afri-
ca. and the Spanish in South America,
have all shown the same genius for
misnaming beasts and birds"
Colonel Roosevelt protests against
the inaccurate treatment which the
cougar has received in most books.
mo American beast" he declares, has
been the subject of so much loose
writing or of such wild fables" Even
it's name is unsettled, he adds:
"In the Eastern states it is usually
called panther or painter: in the West
ern States. mountain lion. or, toward
the South, Mexican lion. The Spanish
| speaking people usually call it simply
| lion. 1t is, however, some times called
our country, and in South America
| puma. AS ii is desirable where possible
not to use a name that is misleading
and is already appropriated to some
| entirely different animal, it is best tc
call it cougar"
| The cougar is. we are told. "a very
| singular beast, shy and elusive to an
extraordinary degree. very cowardly
and yet bloodthirsty and ferocious
varying wonderfully in size and sub
| ject, like many other beasts, to queer
freaks of character in occasional in
dividuals." Yet all this. it is stated, IS
almost invariably ignored in treating
of the animal Colonel Roosevelt's own
most Instructive remarks on the sub
ject are as follows:
Fables aside, the cougar is a very
interesting creature. 1t is found from
the cold, desolate plains of Patagonia
to north of the Canadian line, and
lives alike among the snowclad peaks
of the Andes and in the steamine
| forests of the Amazon. Doubtless care
| full investigation will disclose several
varying forms in an animal found ovel
such immense tracts of country and
| living under such utterly diverse con-
ditions. But in it's essential habits and
traits the big, sinking, nearly uni
| eolored cat seems to be much the
| same everywhere, whether living in
mountain, open plain or forest. under
| arctic cold or tropic heat. When the
| settlements become thick it retires t
| dense forest. dark swamp or inaccces
hible mountain gorge, and moves abou
| only at night. In wilder regions it no
infrequently roams during the day and
ventures freely into the open. Deer are
| its customary prey when they ar,
! plentiful. bucks, does and fawns beinl
| killed indifferently. Usually the deer /.
| killed almost instantaneously, but oc
| casionally there is quite a scuff1e, il
which the cougar may get bruised
| though as far as l know, never serious
| ly. 1t is also a dreaded enemy o
sheep, pigs. calves, and especially colts
and when pressed by hunger a big mali
cougar will kill full grown horse so
| COW, moose or wapiti. 1t is the specia
enemy of mountain sheep. In 1886
while hunting white goats north o.
| Clark's Fork of the Columbia, in
region where cougar were common,
| found them preying as freely on goat
! as on the deer. 1t rarely catches ante
| lope, but is quick TO seize rabbits
other small beasts, and even porcu
pines.
mo animal, not even the wolf, is s,
rarely seen or so difficult to get with
out dogs. on the other hand, no othe
wild beast of it's size and power is 81
easily to kill by the aid of dogs. Their
are many contradictions in its charac
ter. Like the American wolf, it is GER
tainly very much afraid of man; ye
| it habitually follows the trail of tn
! hunter or solitary traveller doggins