198 THE PUMA AND CAT FAMILY. 



season ; the porkers and poultry-yard, all the year 

 round, are taxed to supply it with food, and, though 

 many are destroyed, '• the cry is still they come.' If it 

 fails sometimes to surprise the rabbit or opossum in 

 their seats, it can run them downa. It springs from 

 tree to tree, or branch to branch, clutching the unsus- 

 pecting bird on its perch. Its grace, beauty of motion, 

 whether in pursuit of prey or in play, cannot be 

 exceeded. No attitude is ungraceful — no leap too 

 formidable. Each hair of its body is full of vitality. 



No wonder that such an animal is preferred by the 

 Southern hunters to the less agile fox ; and even the 

 very hounds hunt it with a more clamorous joy than 

 they do Eeynard. At break of day the Southern 

 sportsman blows up with his horn his pack of hounds, 

 who, not kept in kennels as with us, exercise their own 

 discretion as to where they pass the night, and starts off 

 for a cat-hunt. The chase, as may be expected, is 

 varied, and full of amusing incidents, for the cat climbs 

 the trees to baffle pursuit, springing from tree to tree. 



The hounds, however — old stagers — are accustomed 

 to this manoeuvre, and make wide casts, searching the 

 tree-tops with their eyes, and the ground with their 

 noses, in case the cat, after trying to escape them by 

 passing from one tree to another overhead, should have 

 descended and tried to steal off. When discovered on 

 a tree, it looks down upon the yelling pack with rage 

 and fury; its eyes seem like living balls of fire; its 



