ted States, but it has retired from the more thickly-settled
portions to the remote forests of the country. It generally flies from
man, but occasions have frequently occurred in which persons have
fallen victims to its rage or rapacity.

_Fatal Sport._--Some years since, two hunters, accompanied by two dogs,
went out in quest of game near the Catskill Mountains. At the foot of a
large hill, they agreed to go round it in opposite directions, and,
when either discharged his rifle, the other was to hasten towards him
to aid in securing the game. Soon after parting, the report of a rifle
was heard by one of them, who, hastening towards the spot, after some
search, found nothing but the dog, dreadfully lacerated, and dead. He
now became much alarmed for the fate of his companion, and, while
anxiously looking around, was horror-struck by the harsh growl of a
cougar, which he perceived on a large limb of a tree, crouching upon
the body of his friend, and apparently meditating an attack on himself.
Instantly he levelled his rifle at the beast, and was so fortunate as
to wound it mortally, when it fell to the ground along with the body of
his slaughtered companion. His dog then rushed upon the wounded cougar,
which, with one blow of its paw, laid the poor animal dead by its side.
The surviving hunter now left the spot, and quickly returned, with
several other persons, when they found the lifeless cougar extended
near the dead bodies of the hunter and the faithful dogs.

_Terrible Revenge._--The following account is furnished by a
correspondent of the "Cabinet of Natural History:" "It was on as
beautiful an autumnal day as ever ushered in the Indian summer, that I
made an excursion after game among a group of mountains, or rather on a
link in the great chain of the Alleghany range, which runs in a
north-eastern direction in that part of Pennsylvania which bounds the
New York line.

"I had kept the summit of the mountains for several miles, without
success, for a breeze had arisen shortly after sunrise, which rattled
through the trees, and made it unfavorable for hunting on dry ground;
and indeed the only wild animal I saw was a bear, that was feeding on
another ridge across a deep valley, and entirely out of reach of my
rifle-shot. I therefore descended the mountain in an oblique direction,
towards the salt springs, which I soon reached, and, after finding
others had preceded me here, I left the spot for another mountain, on