The Wildcat. 251 



track an the opposite side, and perhaps not regain it without 

 some difficulty and delay. 



" At other times the " Cat," when chased by the doafs, gains 

 some tract of " burnt woods," common especially in the fine lands 

 of Carolina, where fallen and upright trees are alike blackened 

 by the fire that has run among them, burning before it every 

 blade of grass, every leaf and shrub, and destroying many of the 

 largest trees, in its furious course; and here the charcoal and ashes 

 on the ground, after he has traversed the burnt district a short 

 distance, and made a few leaps along the trunk of a fallen tree, 

 that has been charred in the conflagration, will generally put any 

 hounds at fault. Should no such chance of safety be within his 

 reach, he does not despair, but exerting his pov/ers of flight to 

 the utmost, increases his distance from the pursuing pack, and 

 following as intricate and devious a path as possible, after many 

 a weary mile has been run over, he reaches a long fallen trunk of 

 a tree, on which he may perchance at some previous time have 

 baflied the hunters as he is now about to do. He leaps on to it, 

 and hastily running to the further end he doubles and returns 

 to the point from which he gained the tree, and after running 

 backward and forward repeatedly on the fallen trunk, he makes a 

 sudden and vigorous spring, leaping as high up into a tree some 

 feet distant as he can ; he then climbs to its highest forks, 

 crouches, and, closely squatted, watches the movements of his 

 pursuers. The dogs are soon at fault, for he has already led them 

 through many a crooked path ; the hunters are dispirited and 

 uneasy, and perhaps the density of the w^oods, or the approach of 

 night favours him ; the huntsmen call oft' their dogs from the 

 fruitless search, and give up the chase, and shortly after the 

 escaped marauder descends leisurely to the earth, and wanders 

 off in search of food, and to bemn a new series of adventures." 



The Wild Cat is a great destroyer of the eggs of birds, and 

 never finds the nest of a grouse, partridge, wild turkey, or other 

 bird, without sucking every Qgg in it. The following is a method 

 of capturing the animal, practiced in the Southern States, where 

 it is abundant: " A large and strong box trap is constructed, and 

 a chicken, placed at the farthest end of it from the door, is tied by 

 one leg so that he cannot move ; there is a stout wire partition 

 about half way between the fowl and the door, which prevents the 

 Cat, when entering the trap, from seizing the bird ; the trap is 

 then set so that when the animal enters the door closes behind 



