OF THE ANIMALS OF CHASK. 



destructive to partridges and wild-turkeys, to rab- 

 bits, and sometimes fawns. When these fail him, 

 he invades the poultry-yard, the pig-stye, and the 

 sheep-fold. Lambs of six months old are killed, 

 and carried off. Such is their strength, that they 

 have been known to kill one nearly full grown, drag 

 it over a fence four or five feet in height, and 

 remove it to a neighboring thicket. A planter re- 

 siding within five miles of Beaufort, found, on visit- 

 ing his sheep-fold one morning, that a sheep was 

 missing, and on examination, discovered the trail 

 by which it had been dragged off. Setting on his 

 hounds, they soon, discovered the sheep, half 

 devoured, in the thicket and near by, the felon, in 

 shape of a wild-cat, so gorged with his meal that 

 he could make no run, and was quickly dispatched 

 by the dogs. If they do not frequently destroy the 

 full-grown sheep, it proceeds from caution, rather 

 than from want of strength to do so. Here is an 

 incident in point. A tame doe, two years old, had 

 been so severely bitten by dogs, that it died of its 

 hurts. As I was riding one evening along a ridge 

 of wooded land, I perceived it where it lay dead 

 and, on the following morning, directed my servant 

 to bring it home, as food for my hounds. He sur- 

 prised me on his return, by telling me that the deer 

 was not to be found where I had directed him to 



