10 COMMON AMERICAN WILD CAT. 



started now ! " " He is up ! " What a burst ! you might have heard 

 it two miles off — it comes in mingled sounds, roaring like thunder, 

 from the muddy marsh and from the deep swamp. The barred owl, 

 frightened from the monotony of his quiet life among the cypress 

 trees, commences hooting in mockery as it were, of the wide-mouthed 

 hounds. Here they come, sweeping through the resounding swamp lilie 

 an equinoctial storm — the crackling of a reed, the shaking of a bush, a 

 glimpse of some object that glided past like a shadow, is succeeded by 

 the whole pack, rattling away among the vines and fallen timbers, and 

 leaving a trail in the mud as if a pack of wolves in pm'suit of a deer 

 had hurried by. The Cat has gone past. It is now evident that he will 

 not climb a tree. It is almost invariably the case that where he can 

 retreat to low swampy situations, or briar patches, he will not take 

 a tree, but seeks to weary the dogs by making short windings among the 

 almost impassable briar patches. He has now been twisting and turning 

 half a dozen times in a thicket covering only three or four acres — let 

 us go in and take our stand on the very trail where he last passed, and 

 shoot him if we can. A shot is heard on the opposite edge of the 

 thicket, and again all is still ; but once more the pack is in full cry. 

 Here he comes, almost brushing our legs as he dashes by and ilisappears 

 in the bushes, before we can get sight of him and pull trigger. But we 

 see that the dogs are every moment pressing him closer, that the ma- 

 rauder is showing evidences of fatigue and is nearly " done up." He be- 

 gins to make narrower circles, there are restless flashes in his eye, his 

 back is now curved upwards, his hair is bristled nervously forward, his 

 tongue hangs out — we raise our gun as he is approaching, and scarcely 

 ten yards off — a loud report-^the smoke has hardly blown aside, ere we 

 see him lifeless, almost at our very feet — had we waited three minutes 

 longer, the hounds would have saved us the powder and shot ! 



One fine morning in autumn, when we had crossed the Ohio river at 

 Henderson, in Kentucky, with the view of shooting some wild turkeys, 

 geese, and perhaps a deer, we chanced to seat ourselves about fifty 

 yards from a prostrate tree, and presently saw a Wild-Cat leap on to it, 

 and go through the manoeuvres we have described in a preceding page. 

 He did not see us, and had scarcely reached one of the higher branches 

 of a tall white-oak, after springing into it from the fallen tree, when we 

 heard the dogs, which soon came up, with the hunters following not far 

 behind. They asked, when they perceived us, whether we had seen the 

 " Cat " that had given them the slip. Always willing to assist the hunter 

 who has lost liis game, and having no particular liking towards this 

 species, we answered in the affirmative, and showed them the animal, 



