146 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



is also confirmatory of this view. It had not only killed 

 and carried ofi" several of the farmer's fowls and ducks, 

 but those of others in the neighbourhood, besides 

 destroying some tame cats, and badly maiming others, 

 that had chanced to come in its way. 



The farm in question is on the skirts of a wood of 

 considerable extent — that of Perrystone — in which most 

 likely the animal had its lair, issuing forth only for 

 nocturnal forays. A ' hanging " wood it is, on a steep 

 slope overlooking the river, in places almost precipitous, 

 and the likeliest of "lays" for such a creature. Still it 

 could not have been haunting there for any great length 

 of time, with a gamekeeper all the while on the look- 

 out for " vermin." Besides, it must have been a poacher 

 of a most redoubtable kind. The probability then of its 

 having been a real wild cat rests on the supposition of its 

 having found its way thither from the Welsh mountains, 

 following the course of the stream downward, perhaps 

 here and there making temporary sojourn. And the 

 same may be said of the one killed, and the other seen on 

 Chasewood Hill, which also overlooks the river. Such a 

 migration were not only possible, but probable enough ; 

 since, among the wooded " dingles " where the Wye has 

 some of its sources — very fastnesses — this now rare 

 animal is believed still to have existence. 



TAME CATS TURNING WILD. 



The common house cat taking to the woods, and there 

 remaining — in short, becoming, to all intents and 

 purposes, a wild cat — is an occurrence by no means 



