MAMMALS OF UTAH 113 



the Good Samaritan — such is the wild cat according to cir- 

 cumstances and mood. Look at the house cat when it lies 

 serenely before the hearth— it purrs affably with almost 

 an angelic sweetness in its big round eyes — then, watch it 

 when a strange dog enters — it assumes a fiendish aspect, 

 spits, growls, and emits bitter enmity from every hair. 

 You have seen a dimunitive wild cat ; for a friend of mine, 

 a furrier, has a wild cat that is so good humored' that he 

 can rub his head against its cheek while a stranger meets 

 a, most misgiving rush and snarl. 



The wild cat prowls about the foothills in search of 

 birds, squirrels, mice, grouse, cottontails, and, in fact, any 

 small game, not excepting snakes, frogs and insects. Un- 

 less starving it refuses to attack a skunk or the porcu- 

 pine, though it may kill a cross fox. which, not being broad 

 footed, sinks in the snow and cannot flee. As a rule a wild 

 cat will rush up a tree at sight of a small dog. In capturing 

 a prairie dog it evinces unbounded patience, crouched for 

 hours behind a rock until its victim, thinking it has passed, 

 works up sufficient courage to scamper a few yards from its 

 hole. In eating, a wild cat crunches and swallows bones as 

 -well as meat; and, if disturbed, emits a low, humming 

 •growl, smoother and softer than the growl of a dog, yet 

 fiercely defiant and uncanny. 



If about to fight with each other, wild cats twitch 

 their tails violently, put their ears back, and hold their 

 paws ready to strike, snarling and rumbling all the while. 

 Their teeth and claws are over half an inch long and beau- 

 tifully formed. 



The home of the wild cat is usually in a hoUow stump, 

 or in a thick tangled coppice between the interlocking 

 branches of some failed tree. Here on a soft bed of moss 

 and dry grass, the ill-tempered kittens, usually three, are 

 born, though one may be devoured at once by the incom- 

 prehensible mother. In two or three months the kittens 

 are weaned and taught to hunt ready to face the chill 

 winds and scanty food of winter. 



The flesh of the wild cat is white, tender and quite 

 like veal. 



The skins of this animal bring the trapper from 35 

 -cents to $20.00 each according to quality and size. 



