OF THE ANIMALS OF CHASE. 265 



be rode into, I have adopted tlie plan of leaving my 

 horse on the edge, and making my way on foot, 

 into the heart of the thictet. If, pursuing the 

 same plan, you should remark the hounds running 

 upon one of the fallen logs (in which these grounds 

 usually abound), the probability is that the cat, in 

 his next double, will take precisely the same run. 

 By placing yourself so as to command a view of 

 the log, the chances are that you will shoot him. I 

 have often adopted this expedient with suc- 

 cess. 



A full grown wild-cat will sometimes succeed in 

 beating off a half dozen dogs ; though I once owned 

 a noble hound who would kill a cat single handed. 

 I was witness to such an exciting contest. I was 

 hunting cats, with my two well trained cat-hounds, 

 Kowser and Black, and had given the cat a chase 

 of a couple of hours, when Black, having been 

 thrown out, Kowser brought the chase to bay in 

 a hedge. Seeing but one dog in pursuit, he deter- 

 mined to give battle, and after a growl of defiance, 

 left the cover of the hedge, and leaped out into an 

 open field. Kowser sprang after him, and the cat, 

 instead of flying, threw himself upon his back, 

 raised his head, and extended his fore-paws in the 

 a-ttitude of a pugilist on guard. The dog ap- 

 proached, (his hair bristling upon his back), and 



