148 THE WILD CAT OF AMERICA. 



one of the most exciting of their national sports. It is a 

 pastime which they appreciate as highly as Englishmen 

 appreciate a fox-hunt. In fact, the cat is in the United 

 States what the fox is in Great Britain. It is true, how- 

 ever, that there are no red coats among its hunters ; the 

 costume of the planters and their friends is exceedingly 

 simple, and, apart from the great boots which come mid- 

 way up the thigh, the remainder of their attire is of un- 

 paralleled plainness. The only thing borrowed by the 

 hunters of the New World from those of the Old is the 

 horn, which they make use of ad libitum, without con- 

 fining themselves to the notes used by the huntsmen of 

 Europe. The horn with them has but one object : to 

 make a noise, and celebrate a victory. 



The wild cat of the United States is an enormous 

 animal, with no relation to that of Europe, except in 

 form, and sometimes in its fur. I do not think I have 

 seen anywhere such large cats as those of the two Caro- 

 linas. Their reddish skin, diagonally streaked with deep 

 coloured bands ; their tail, as bushy as that of a fox ; 

 their velvety ears, not unlike those of a lynx, all to- 

 gether gives one a complete idea of a small tiger of a 

 particular species. 



The negroes of the Southern States, in their picturesque, 

 familiar language, describe the character of the cat in the 

 following manner : A vermin as voracious as a pawn- 

 broker, stingy as a briefless lawyer, wild as a peccary, 

 and as insensible to pain as a Southern planter or a 

 turtle. Finally, say they, to shorten the picture, this 

 wild beast is like a woman, because you cannot compare 

 her with any other than herself. 



On examining, for the first time, the head of a wild 



