CHAPTER XIX
COUGAR

Tuts animal, whose scientific name is Felis concolor, is,
as are so many other animals, more often called by the
wrong name than the right one. They are fine big
handsome beasts, and in appearance not unlike a small
lioness, and for this reason became known to the earlier
settlers as mountain lions. They have very long, slim
tails, so that the skin of a large old male might measure
close on to nine feet in length. When fat, a very big one
would probably tip the scales at two hundred and fifty
pounds, but the ordinary mature cougar would not go much
over one hundred and fifty pounds.

Their habitat is confined to the southern half of the
mainland and the whole of Vancouver Island. Not so
many years ago the area in which they existed on the
mainland was far more limited than it is now, but of late
years they have increased their range and are working
farther and farther north. Twenty years ago it was an
uncommon thing to find a cougar as far north as the main
line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In those days
Vancouver Island was the only part of the country where
they were to be found in any numbers, but now there are
far more of them scattered all through the southern part
of the mainland, and there are many of them as far north
as the end of the Lillooet district, where they have wrought
havoc with the mule deer and sheep.

The cougar is a beast possessing wonderful agility, and
it can climb trees at a rate almost incredible for an animal
of its size. Their strength is prodigious, and they are

able to carry a full-grown deer, which may weigh far
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