common in the Gulf, does occasionally make its appearance inland;
and might possibly become known to the untraveled Mound-Builder
among the fauna of his own northern home.

The information contained in the above paragraph relative to the range
of some of the animals mentioned may well be viewed with surprise by
naturalists. To begin with, the jaguar or panther, by which vernacular
names the _Felis onca_ is presumably meant, is not only found in
Northern Mexico, but extends its range into the United States and
appears as far north as the Red River of Louisiana. (See Baird's Mammals
of North America.) Hence a sculptured representation of this animal in
the mounds, although by no means likely, is not entirely out of the
question. However, among the several carvings of the cat family that
have been exhumed from the mounds and made known there is not one which
can, with even a fair degree of probability, be identified as this
species in distinction from the next animal named, the cougar.

The cougar, to which several of the carvings can with but little doubt
be referred, was at the time of the discovery of America and is to-day,
where not exterminated by man, a common resident of the whole of North
America, including of course the whole of the Mississippi Valley. It
would be surprising, therefore, if an animal so striking, and one that
has figured so largely in Indian totemism and folk-lore, should not have
received attention at the hands of the Mound-Builders.

Nothing resembling the toucan, as has been seen, has been found in the
mounds; but, as stated, this bird is found in Southern Mexico.

The buzzard is to-day common over almost the entire United States, and
is especially common throughout most of the Mississippi Valley.

As to the paroquet, there seems to be no evidence in the way of carvings
to show that it was known to the Mound-Builders, although that such was
the case is rendered highly probable from the fact that it lived at
their very doors.

It therefore appears that of the five animals of which Wilson states
"the majority are not known in the United States," and "some of them are
totally unknown, within any part of the North American continent," every
one is found in North America, and all but one within the limits of the
United States, while three were common residents of the Mississippi
Valley.

As a further illustration of the inaccurate zoological knowledge to
which may be ascribed no s