is once fired at some bighorn sheep, on a steep
mountain-side; he missed, and immediately after his shot, a cougar made
a dash into the midst of the flying band, in hopes to secure a victim.
The cougar roams over long distances, and often changes its hunting
ground, perhaps remaining in one place two or three months, until the
game is exhausted, and then shifting to another. When it does not lie in
wait it usually spends most of the night, winter and summer, in prowling
restlessly around the places where it thinks it may come across prey,
and it will patiently follow an animal's trail. There is no kind of
game, save the full-grown grisly and buffalo, which it does not at times
assail and master. It readily snaps up grisly cubs or buffalo calves;
and in at least one instance, I have know of it springing on, slaying,
and eating a full-grown wolf. I presume the latter was taken by
surprise. On the other hand, the cougar itself has to fear the big
timber wolves when maddened by the winter hunger and gathered in small
parties; while a large grisly would of course be an overmatch for it
twice over, though its superior agility puts it beyond the grisly's
power to harm it, unless by some unlucky chance taken in a cave. Nor
could a cougar overcome a bull moose, or a bull elk either, if the
latter's horns were grown, save by taking it unawares. By choice, with
such big game, its victims are the cows and young. The prong-horn
rarely comes within reach of its spring; but it is the dreaded enemy of
bighorn, white goat, and every kind of deer, while it also preys on all
the smaller beasts, such as foxes, coons, rabbits, beavers, and even
gophers, rats, and mice. It sometimes makes a thorny meal of the
porcupine, and if sufficiently hungry attacks and eats its smaller
cousin the lynx. It is not a brave animal; nor does it run its prey down
in open chase. It always makes its attacks by stealth, and if possible
from behind, and relies on two or three tremendous springs to bring it
on the doomed creature's back. It uses its claws as well as its teeth
in holding and killing the prey. If possible it always seizes a large
animal by the throat, whereas the wolf's point of attack is more often
the haunch or flank. Small deer or sheep it will often knock over and
kill, merely using its big paws; sometimes it breaks their necks. It
has a small head compared to the jaguar, and its bite is much less
dangerous. Hence, as compared to its larger and b