502 



ROMANCING SCRIBES. 



Tlie name o-f "Catamount" <;iven by many woodsmen 

 to larj^e-sized examples of tlie Wildcat or Bay Lynx, 

 has given nev;spaper correspondents in regions where 

 these sreaking nnd detiimental animals are i)lentiful, 

 an opportunity to send to the press some most read- 

 able and surprisingly sensational stories when a big 

 "cat" is caught and killed, of the capture of a ferocious 

 mian-eating or live stock devounng "panther." The 

 writer has. during the pnst three or four years, taken 

 especial pains to investigate these newspaper panther 

 stories and, without exception, all have proven false or 

 at least they were founded on erroneous identifica- 

 tion. Some people, not versed in natural history mat- 

 ters, consider the names "Catamount," Panther and 

 "Painter" to be synonymous. This misunderstanding 

 is perhaps the cause of so- many wrong statements 

 which find their way into the columns of some of our 

 most reputable papers, the managers of which, I am 

 well aware, strive faithfully to guard against all such 

 errors. 



SPECIES WHICH ARE RARE. 



The Fisher and Pine Marten or American Sable, 

 tenants of the pine and hemlock forests, and both of 

 considerable economic value for the warm and attrac- 

 tive articles of wearing apparel their loose blackish 

 or brown coals make when |)ass('d through the skillful 

 furrier's hands, are likewise about ready to be elided 

 by the naturalist from the indigenous faana of ilic 

 Keystone State. 



Dr. Tsaiah F. Everliai-t, the disfinguished traveler 

 and naturalist, of Scranton, about ten yeai's ago ob- 

 tained two Fishers taken in that region by a hunter. 



