I saw this survivor a year
later. He evinced great reluctance to talk of the event, and insisted
that the thing which had slain his companion was not really a cougar at
all, but a devil.
A she-cougar does not often attempt to avenge the loss of her young,
but sometimes she does. A remarkable instance of the kind happened to my
friend, Professor John Bache McMaster, in 1875. He was camped near the
head of Green River, Wyoming. One afternoon he found a couple of cougar
kittens, and took them into camp; they were clumsy, playful, friendly
little creatures. The next afternoon he remained in camp with the
cook. Happening to look up suddenly he spied the mother cougar running
noiselessly down on them, her eyes glaring and tail twitching. Snatching
up his rifle, he killed her when she was barely twenty yards distant.
A ranchman, named Trescott, who was at one time my neighbor, told me
that while he was living on a sheep-farm in the Argentine, he found
pumas very common, and killed many. They were very destructive to sheep
and colts, but were singularly cowardly when dealing with men.
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