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 bolder relative, it
places more trust in its claws and less in its teeth.
Though the cougar prefers woodland, it is not necessarily a beast of the
dense forests only; for it is found in all the plains country, living in
the scanty timber belts which fringe the streams, or among the patches
of brush in the Bad Lands.
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