216 WILD CATS. 



ordinary, to judge from the extent of the injuries it had 

 inflicted. The flesh was sadly lacerated, and in two places 

 the bone was completely exposed. 



The sufferer, it appeared, was not unknown to Antony, 

 and, from the free-masonry which passed between them, I 

 discovered that he is of the same craft, and the person upon 

 whom the otter-killer's mantle is likely to descend, when he, 

 Antony, shall have gone the way of all flesh. The chief 

 occupation of the wounded man is digging out foxes in the 

 mountains, which he brings afterwards for sale to the interior, 

 and disposes of at a good price to the masters of hounds. 

 This morning he had gone to a cover in the hills, in his usual 

 Avocation, when, from some traces he observed beneath a 

 rock, he concluded that an animal was earthed there. 

 Having put a terrier in, his suspicions were confirmed, as 

 the dog came out severely torn, and, assisted by a shepherd- 

 boy, he laid rabbit-nets round the den, commenced digging' 

 and, before he had proceeded far, a cat of immense size 

 bolted. She was breaking through the rabbit-net, when the 

 chasseur, with more gallantry than prudence, seized her by 

 the neck. The fierce animal instantly attacked him in turn, 

 and, fastening upon his hands with teeth and talons, held her 

 desperate grasp until the boy, with the edge of the spade, 

 broke her back. They brought the dead beast along with 

 them ; it was of a dirty gray colour, double the size of the 

 common house-cat, and its teeth and claws more than propor- 

 tionately larger. 



These animals fortunately are scarce, and generally frequent 

 the neighbourhood of rabbit-warrens, where they prove 

 amazingly destructive. Hennessey, two winters since, disco- 

 covered a den in a cleft of a rock upon the shore, and adjoin- 

 ing the sand-banks, which are numerously stocked with rab- 

 bits. It cost him immense trouble to penetrate to the/bnw, 

 where he killed a male and female wild- cat, the latter being 

 large with young. Hennessey's patience and ingenuity were 

 sorely taxed to effect their destruction, having been obliged to 

 resort to gunpowder, and blow up a large portion of the rock, 

 before he could dislodge his dangerous game. In size and 

 colour, they were precisely similar to the animal killed in the 

 mountain by the fox-catcher ; and had they been permitted 

 to continue their species, in a very short time the abjacent 

 burrow would have been devastated. 



