160 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



Started oflP as sound in limb and wind, as if he had just 

 jumped from a " hucklebury " bush. 



The hunter of the wild turkey, while "calling," in 

 imitation of the hen, to allure the gobbler within reach 

 of his gun, will sometimes be annoyed by the appearance 

 of the wild-cat stealing up to the place from whence the 

 sounds proceed. The greatest caution on such occasions 

 is visible in the cat ; it progresses by the slowest possible 

 movements, crawling along like a serpent. The hunter 

 knows that the intruder has spoiled his turkey sport for 

 the morning, and his only revenge is to wait patiently, 

 and give the cat the contents of his gun, then, minus all 

 game, he goes home anathematizing the whole race of 

 cats, for thus interfering with his sport and his dinner. 



Of all the peculiarities of the cat, its untameable and 

 quarrelsome disposition, is its most marked character- 

 istic. 



There is no half-way mark, no exception, no occa- 

 sional moment of good nature ; starvation and a surfeit, 

 blows and kind words, kicks, cuffs, and fresh meat, reach 

 not the sympathies of the wild-cat. 



He has all the greediness of a pawnbroker, the ill na- 

 ture of a usurer, the meanness of a pettifogging lawyer, 

 the blind rage of the hog, and the apparent insensibility 

 to pain of the turtle : like a woman, the wild-cat is in- 

 comparable with any thing but itself. 



In expression of face, the wild-cat singularly resem- 

 bles the rattlesnake. The skulls of these two " var- 



