68 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

with a gun and accompanied by a dog. They agreed to
follow contrary directions round the base of a hill, and to
join each other immediately upon hearing the report of a
gun. Shortly after parting, one of the friends heard the gun
of his comrade and hastening to his assistance came first
upon the body of his friend’s dog, tom and lacerated; proceed-
ing further, his attention was attracted by the growl of a
wild animal, and looking up, he discovered a large puma
crouching over the body of his friend, upon the branch of a
tree. The animal glared at him, and he, knowing the rapi-
dity of the Puma’s movements, immediately raised his gun
and fired, whereupon the puma rolled over on to the ground
with his prey. The dog flew at the infuriated beast, but one
blow from the puma’s paw silenced him for ever. Seeing
that his comrade was dead the hunter left the scene in
search of assistance, upon securing which, he returned to
find the puma dead, beside the two dogs and the hunter whom
he had killed.
Animals and Captain Head, in his “Journey Across the Pam-
Men. pas” says:—“ The fear which all wild animals in
America have of man is very singularly seen in the Pampas.
I often rode towards the ostriches and zamas, crouching under
the opposite side of my horse’s neck; but I always found
that, although they would allow my loose horse to approach
them, they, even when young, ran from me, though little of
my figure was visible; and when I saw them all enjoying
themselves in such full liberty, it was at first not pleasing to
observe that one’s appearance was everywhere a signal to
them that they should fly from their enemy. Yet it is by
this fear ‘that man hath dominion over the beasts of the
field,’ and there is no animal in South America that does
not acknowledge this instinctive feeling. As a singular proof
of the above, and of the difference between the wild beasts
of America and of the old world, I will venture to relate a
circumstance which a man sincerely assrred me had happened