PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER CATS. 415 
wild cat or panther. The hair “roughs,” as the hunters 
term it, that is, stands on end over the back and tail; and 
their cry becomes a sort of eager growl. The drivers 
understand these signs well, and when beating for deer or 
fox they immediately call the dogs off the dangerous scent. 
As a hunter, the bay lynx exhibits a good deal of cunning 
and sagacity—quite as much, it would appear, as Reynard 
himself. Dr. Bachman gives some curious relations upon 
this head. One incident, which occurred at the plantation 
of Dr. Desel, in South Carolina, is worth giving. It seems 
that “the drove of geese were nightly lodged near the 
house in an enclosure which was rendered apparently safe 
by a very high fence. As an additional security, several 
watch dogs were let loose about the premises; besides, an 
excellent pack of hounds, which, by an occasional bark or 
howl during the night, sounded the alarm in case any 
marauder, whether biped or quadruped, approached. Not- 
withstanding these precautions, a goose disappeared almost 
every night, and no trace of the ingress or egress of the 
robber could be discovered. Slow in attaching suspicion to 
to his servants, the Doctor waited for time and watchfulness 
to solve the mystery. At length, the feathers and other 
remains of his geese were discovered in a marsh, about a 
quarter of a mile from the house, and strong suspicion was 
fastened on the wild cat! Stil, as he came at odd hours 
of the night, all attempts to kill or shoot him proved, for a 
time, unavailing. One morning, however, he came about 
daylight, and having captured a good fat goose, was traced 
by the keen noses of the hounds.” 
The hounds tracked him up, and he was finally shot; but 
his subtle in-goings and out-comings sound to us very like 
the German stories of the witch or weir-wolf. It was surely 
ticklish walking, though his toes be padded, for the wary. 
plunderer amid so many foes. But his astuteness and 
dexterity are quite as remarkable in those wild wood forays, 
