Mr. Colinson mentions another species of cougar, which is found on
the mountains of Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and the adjacent
provinces, and which, from his account, seems to differ very much from
that just described; his legs being shorter, and his body and tail
much longer, but in colour, and in the shape of the head, they have a
perfect resemblance.
M. de la Borde describes three species of rapacious animals at Cayenne;
first, the jaguar, which they call tiger; the second, the cougar, or
red tiger; (the former is about the size of a large bull-dog, and the
latter much smaller) and the third they call black tiger, which we
have termed black cougar. (_fig. 102._) "Its head, continues M. de la
Borde, is somewhat like that of a common cougar; it has long black
hair, a long tail, and large whiskers, but is much less than the other.
The skin of both the jaguar and cougar are easily penetrated even
with the arrows of the Indians. When very hard set for food, they will
attack cows and oxen; in this case they spring upon their backs, and
having brought them to the ground, they tear them to pieces, first
opening their breasts and bellies, to glut themselves with their blood;
they then drag pieces of flesh into the wood, covering the remainder
with branches of trees, and keeping near to feed upon it, until it
begins to putrify, when they touch it no more. They will keep near a
flock of wild hogs, for the purpose of seizing the stragglers, but
cautiously avoid being surrounded by them. They often seek for prey
on the sea-shore, and devour the eggs left there by the turtles: they
also make prey of the caïmans, or alligators, lizards, and fishes; to
take the former, they use the craft of lying down by the edge of the
water, which they strike so as to make sufficient noise to attract his
attention, who will come towards the place, and no sooner puts his head
above water, than his seducer makes a certain spring at him, kills and
drags him to some convenient place where he may devour him at leisure.
It is said by the Indians that the jaguar decoys the agouti in the
same manner, by counterfeiting his cry. They sometimes eat the leaves
and buds of the Indian figs; they are excellent swimmers, and cross
the largest rivers. They seldom have more than one young at a time,
which they hide in the trunks of hollow trees. They eat their flesh at
Cayenne, and, when young, it is as white as that of a rabbit."
The cougar is easily tamed, and rendered nearly as familiar as domestic
animals.