725 



in llio yards, lawns and orchards they frequent; and, 

 as (lie younfi of domesticated fo-wls are carefully 

 };uarded by their owners, these cats thirst for feath- 

 ered game, and, like hermits, hie away and live in 

 retirement in woods and thickets. 



Members of the feline tribe which thus retire to live 

 become exceedingly wild and wary; and they are fre- 

 quently met with in many sections of the State. They 

 are almost, if not equally, as bad about destroying 

 game, such as Pheasants, Turkeys, Quail and Rabbits, 

 as aie the Foxes and true Wildcat or Bay Lynx. 



The name of "Wildcat" is applied to these feral rej)- 

 resentatives of the domestic cat tribe by many hunters 

 and woodsmen, and possibly when heads and ears of 

 such animals have been presented for bounties in 

 siome of the counties, it was done with no intention of 

 decc^ption nor with a knowledge that the common 

 house cat was being substituted for the true Wildcat 

 or Kay Lynx. 



HISTORY OF HE.A.DS .SHOWN ON PLATES. 



Tlie ears of several of the mammal heads illustrated 

 on the plates at the end of this chapter are wanting; 

 Ihis is due (o the fad (hat they were cut off and 

 burned b\ the ofticiais who accei)ted them and paid 

 iKMinties for them. These heads are all life size. 



OPO.SSII.M. H.VBBIT, WILD AND TA.ME CATS. 



The OfK>ssi;ni head, that of a young one about two- 

 thirds grown, was sent to the office of the State Board 

 of .Vgri( lilt lire from one of the counties in Central 

 I'enns^lvania. with the statement that it was either 

 a young Wildcat or young Catamount, and as there 

 was a dispute alxMit it among some hunters where it 



