196 THE PUMA AND CAT FAMILY. 



more for Columbia, which we reached by supper-time, 

 without further adventure. 



A friend of mine, living on Caney Creek in Mata- 

 gorda County, was disturbed one night by the squeaks 

 of an unhappy pig in his orchard. He got out of bed, 

 called his dogs, and taking a rifle, went to see what was 

 the matter. As soon as he came to his peach-orchard, 

 the pig's screams ceased, but his dogs bayed furiously 

 at the roots of two or three trees. As it was too 

 dark to see what the animals were, he returned to his 

 bed, nearly certain that his fierce dogs would keep 

 their victims ' tree'd ' till daylight. In the morning it 

 proved to be a panther, with her two half-grown cubs, 

 and my friend succeeded in killing all three. Most 

 likely, had the old panther been alone, she would have 

 made her escape in defiance of the dogs, but being 

 unwilling to leave her cubs, she perished with them. 



The Bob-tailed Cat, or Lynx {Lynx Rufus\ is very 

 common throughout all the Southern States, and is a 

 very cowardly animal, preying chiefly on the wild 

 turkeys in the forest, or upon the small pigs and 

 poultry of the planters. It is rarely seen except late in 

 the evening, or very early in the morning, unless 

 roused from its lair by a pack of cat-dogs, hounds 

 trained to run only panthers, lynxes, and ocelots ; and 

 a description of one kind of cat-hunt will serve to 

 show the nature of the sport, whether it be afforded by 

 a bob-tail or a leopard-cat. 



