East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1921-09-22

thorny meal Of the porcupine and If
sufficiently hungry attacks and eats its
smaller cousin the lynx. II is not 4,
brave animal, nor does il run its prey
down in open chase. It always makes
us attacks by stealth, and If possible
tfom behind, and relies on two or
tnree tremendous springs to bring IT
on the doomed creatures back. 1t
uses its claws as well as it's teeth in
holding and killing the prey. If pos
sible 1t always seizes a large animal
Dy the throat, whereas the VOLTS point
CT attack is more often the haunch or
flank Small deer or sheep it will oft
en- knock over and kill, merely using
its big paws; sometimes it breaks their
necks. 1t has a small head compared
to the jaguar, and its bite Is much less
dangerous Hence, as compared to
its larger and bolder relative. 1t places
more trust in its claws and less in its
teeth.
In Forests And Plains
Though the cougar prefers wood
land, it is not necessarily a beast of the
dense forests only, for 1t is found in all
the plains country, living in the scantly
timber belts which fringe the streams,
or among the patches of brush in the
Fad Lands The persecution of hunt
ers, however, always tends to drive it
into the most thickly wooded and
broken fastenesses of the mountains
The she has from one to three kittens,
brought forth in a cave or a secluded
lair, under a dead log or in very thick
brush. 1t Is said that the old hes kill
the small male kittens when they get
chance. They certainly at times dur
Ing the breeding season fight desper-
ately among themselves. Cougars are
very solitary beasts, it is rare to see
more than one at time, and then only
mother and young, or a mated male
and female. While she has kittens
the mother is doubly destructive 10
game. The young begin to kill for
themselves very early. The first fall,
after they are born, they attack large
game, and from ignorance are bolder
in making their attacks than their par
ents. but they are clumsy and often let
the prey escape. Like all cats, cougars
are comparatively easy to trap, much
more so than beasts of the dog kind,
such as the fox and wolf.
They are silent animals: but old
hunters say that at mating time the
males call loudly, while the females
have very distinct answer. They are
also sometimes noisy at other seasons.
am not sure that I ever heard one,
nut one night, while camped in heav-
lily timbered coulie near Kildeer
Mountains, where, as their footprints
showed, the beasts were plentiful,
twice heard a loud, wailing scream
ringing through the impenatrable
gloom which shrouded the hills around
rs. My companion, an old plainsman.
said that this was the cry of the cou-
gar prowling for its prey. Certainly
no man could we'll listen to a stranger
and wilder sound.
Rarely Attacks Hfcn
Ordinarily the rifleman is in no
danger from hunted cougar, the
beasts one idea seems to be flight, and
even if its assailant is very close, it
rarely charges if there is any chance
for escape. Yet there are occasions
when it will show fight. In the spring
of 1890 a man with whom had more
than once worked on the roundup
though / never knew his name-was
badly mauled by cougar near my
ranch. He was hunting with COM
panion and they Unexpectedly came on
the cougar on a shelf of sandstone,
only some ten feet off. 1t sprang down
on the man, mangled him with teeth