The Puma, or South American Lion, is not uncommon.

This animal has a wide geographical range; being found from the equatorial forests, throughout the deserts of Patagonia, as far south as the damp and cold latitudes (53 to 54 degrees) of Tierra del Fuego.

I have seen its footsteps in the Cordillera of central Chile, at an elevation of at least 10,000 feet.

In La Plata the puma preys chiefly on deer, ostriches, bizcacha, and other small quadrupeds; it there seldom attacks cattle or horses, and most rarely man.

In Chile, however, it destroys many young horses and cattle, owing probably to the scarcity of other quadrupeds: I heard, likewise, of two men and a woman who had been thus killed.
It is asserted that the puma always kills its prey by springing on the shoulders, and then drawing back the head with one of its paws, until the vertebrae break: I have seen in Patagonia the skeletons of guanacos, with their necks thus dislocated.
The puma, after eating its fill, covers the carcass with many large bushes, and lies down to watch it.