28 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



because it raided their hen roosts. So abundant were 

 these tiger-cats that in two years Noseda took no 

 less than eighteen within a couple of leagues of his 

 pueblo. The animals soon become used to captivity, 

 and slept all day ; they were fed on live fowls, which 

 they quickly killed, seizing them by the head and 

 neck. The tiger-cats were dainty feeders, carefully 

 plucking the bodies before devouring them ; when 

 given cat's flesh they soon contracted mange, which 

 proved fatal. When wild, each pair of tiger-cats 

 seem to patrol a special area, like policemen on beat; 

 for it was found that when two had been taken, no 

 more would be trapped in that particular district. 



