THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
the miner’s life. To him it becomes a plaything, and its merry 
kitten ways make it almost companionable. ... In Mexico, 
where it is often tamed, it repays all kindness by keeping the 
house clear of mice.” 
Far more imaginative and vivid is the picture of it given us 
by Mr. Beebe,” a part of whose account I must give myself 
the pleasure of quoting: — 
‘““A ring-tailed cat squealed from the entrance of its cave somewhere 
up among the dense shadows on the cliff wall [among the foothills of the 
volcano of Colima], and presently the little animal leaped to some over- 
hanging tree and scrambled down to level ground. . Shrill little squeals 
have often wakened us at night, and now the little black-and-white creature 
which is making its wav so stealthily through the Jeaves gives utterance to 
this strange cry. The moonlight is bright and every detail is plain, as 
the animal leaves the shadows of the underbrush. Its motions are quick 
and catlike, its ears small and erect, surmounting a tiny face like some little 
gnome of the woods. Mouth and nose are pointed, eyes large and lustrous, 
glowing round and deep in the pale light. But what the gorgeous train of 
feathers is to the peacock its tail is to the ring-tailed cat. The creature 
stands half crouching, listening to all the night sounds, when suddenly 
its tail appears — no bare possumlike affair, nor even like the more fluffy 
appendage of the raccoon, but a great filmy mass, ringed with black and 
white, curling and furling gracefully over and around the little animal. 
Now the hairs lie close, and the tail narrows, again it expands and fluffs 
out larger than the entire body of the little cat. 
“Here the ring-tailed cat or bassariscus — for he seems to have no 
generally accepted common name — comes and goes, taking bits of meat 
to his family somewhere up among the rocky cliffs. He is a full-grown 
animal, and yet his tiny face has a wistful, almost infantile expression. 
How interesting must be the baby ringtails! But the innocent expression 
of these little fellows is only skin-deep. Great is the havoc they work among 
the doves and other birds which roost near by. They are somewhat like 
the raccoons, but are much more active and catlike. Among the branches 
they are at home, and can run up a tree trunk like a squirrel. A strange 
habit is that, like the iguanas, they sometimes leap from high limbs, crash- 
ing down among the dense underbrush. . 
“The ring-tailed bassariscus is interesting on account of its relations 
to the raccoons. A study of its skeleton shows that it is almost identical 
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