160 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 
started off as sound in limb and wind, as if he had just 
jumped from a “hucklebury ” bush. 
The hunter of the wild turkey, while “calling,” in 
imitation of the hen, to allure the gobbler within reach 
of his gun, will sometimes be annoyed by the appearance 
of the wild-cat stealing up to the place from whence the 
sounds proceed. The greatest caution on such occasions 
is visible in the cat; it-progresses by the slowest possible 
movements, crawling along like a serpent. The hunter 
knows that the intruder has spoiled his turkey sport for 
the morning, and his only revenge is to wait patiently, 
and give the cat the contents of his gun, then, minus all 
game, he goes home anathematizing the whole race of 
cats, for thus interfering with his sport and his dinner. 
Of all the peculiarities of the cat, its untameable and 
quarrelsome disposition, is its most marked character- 
istic. : 
There is no half-way mark, no exception, no occa- 
sional moment of good nature ; starvation and a surfeit, 
blows and kind words, kicks, cuffs, and fresh meat, reach 
not the sympathies of the wild-cat. 
He has all the greediness of a pawnbroker, the ill na- 
ture of a usurer, the meanness of a pettifogging lawyer, 
the blind rage of the hog, and the apparent insensibility 
to pain of the turtle: like a woman, the wild-cat is in- 
comparable with any thing but itself. 
In expression of face, the wild-cat singularly resem- 
bles the rattlesnake. The skulls of these two “ var- 
