TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 189 



breed, the entire cat family are 

 met with, and if the young cubs 

 are removed and properly taken 

 care of, they will, when still very 

 young grow up quite as tame as 

 our domestic cat family, and gen- 

 erally remain so up to ripe old age 

 However, now and then their in- 

 herited wild nature exerts itself, 

 especially if some chicken or some 

 other housepets should venture 

 too close. My friend, Mr. Edward 

 Beere of San Antonio some time 

 ago purchased a very young fe- 

 male bobcat from a farmer, which 

 he reared to its present nearly 

 full grown size, (the photograph 

 herein, which I prepared lately 

 for these sketches, is quite an in- 

 teresting wildcat study, as it rep- 

 resented one of the same cat, but 

 in different positions) . Mr. Beere 

 had built a neat little frame house 

 for his pet, and the first view 

 taken showed the bobtail eat 

 standing on top of the cathouse 

 roof ; and a second view presented 

 the cat in a crouching position 

 on a platform and gnawing a large 



soupbone. These different po- 

 sitions of the cat are seen on the 

 photo. A large bucket or tub is 

 seen on the photo (in the front 

 rear of the cathouse), and in this 

 tub the cat regularly, every morn- 

 ing, takes a bath, and it is quite a 

 treat to watch the cunning striped 

 cat performing all sorts of antics 

 inside and outside of its bath tub. 

 Mr. Beere, who is the proprietor 

 of the '"Tavern Refreshment Gar- 

 den" on River Avenue, tells me 

 this wild cat never has caused any 

 trouble in raising it : on one or two 

 occasions however, some of his 

 yard fowls came just a little too 

 close to his earstwhile marauding 

 majesty of the jungles and he 

 chopped off some vital'part of the 

 intruders anatomy, , once a fine 

 turkey. This happened some time 

 ago, but since this, the wildcat has 

 grown up into the now magnificient 

 and entirely tame specimen, and it 

 is a great pet with many of the 

 visitors to the fine garden grounds 

 of Mr. Beere, opposite the famous 

 old buffalo and elk enclosure on 

 River Avenue. 



The Texas Coyote Pest 



Prairiewolves — the large "Lo- 

 bo," as well as the smaller '"co- 

 yote," in former years roamed 

 promiscuously about the hills and 

 prairie plains near San Antonio, 

 and in fact all over Texas, in large 

 numbers; and whilst their num- 

 bers has decreased considerably in 

 the immediate neighborhood, they 

 still abound in smaller groups 

 close to our metropolis and a stray 

 specimen is ocassionally met with 

 in a mile or two beyond the city 

 limits now adays. 



The large lobo when hungry, 

 will attack and kill a large sheep 

 and goat or a young full grown 

 calf; and in olden days around 

 ranches, where such wolves at- 



tacked a bunch of longhorn cattle 

 the latter would immediately 

 gather and form a phalanx in a 

 circular line, with the calves in 

 the center, and defend themselves 

 with their powerful long horns — 

 according to the statements of an 

 old Texas ranchman, who, in those 

 frontier days was always prepared 

 at night time to be called out with 

 his ready gun to helo the bellow- 

 ing herd and ward off the blood- 

 thirsty coyotes. In the midst of a 

 pitch dark night, this ranchman 

 one night suddenly grasped his 

 shotgun and in sTiite of the dark 

 night he went through all the cha- 

 parral and cactus thickets to aid 

 the loudly bellowing cattle which 

 were defending themselves fierce- 



