1 40 THE WILD CAT. 



shy and savage, and cannot, without great diffi- 

 culty, be rendered in any measure domestic. The 

 perfectly wild breed are said to be altogether un- 

 tameable, however young they may be when first 

 taken. 



Wild Cats may be caught in traps, the baits of 

 which are sprinkled with valerian, and in and 

 about which valerian is scattered. The compiler 

 of a respectable publication, entitled " The Beau- 

 ties of Natural History/' says, that he once saw a 

 Wild Cat that was caught by some of its limbs in a 

 trap. The enraged appearance of the animal, its 

 hair on all sides bristled on end, the furious noise it 

 made, the foam that it had shed around by its hiss- 

 ing and spitting, its formidable teeth, the mad 

 expansion of its claws, and its fierce glancing 

 eyes, he informs us, chilled him with horror. 



It is generally considered a dangerous thing to 

 shoot at these animals, unless the mark be certain, 

 and the charge fully sufficient to kill them on the 

 spot. If they happen to be only wounded, they will 

 attack, with fury, the person who injured them ; and 

 they have strength enough to prove themselves no 

 despicable adversaries*. 



Their 



* In the Cabinet of Natural History in Paris, there is a beautiful 

 Wild Cat, which was killed in the neighbourhood of Paris. From 

 the extremity of the nose to the origin of the tail, it measures twenty- 

 two 



