TINICUM CAT TRUE WILD CAT 
Species Not So Near Extinct as Many Naturalists 
Think 
ITS HABITS ARE NOCTURNAL 
By Miss Elizabeth C. Cox, of Holicong 
1HAYE been very much interested in the Wild Cat, caught 
in the Tinicum swamp. I went to see it and was much 
surprised to read that the sportsmen generally pro- 
nounced it a "domestic cat.'' 
Species Not Nearly Extinct 
Instances that have come to my knowledge lead me to be- 
lieve that it is a wild cat, and that the species is not so nearly 
extinct as is suggested. Years ago I read a book, entitled "Early 
Settlers in Canada." It was a very old book, the story of an 
English family who settled in central Canada, while that country 
was a trackless wilderness. One night one of the boys of the 
family shot an animal in a tree near the house. When they ex- 
amined it, they think it a domestic cat, but an old man, a hunter 
and trapper, who has spent practically all his life in the forest, 
tells them that it is a wild cat, that while it is smaller than either 
the Canadian lynx or the more common bobcat, it is much more 
fierce than either of them and cannot be tamed, and the reason 
they have not encountered it before is because it is entirely noc- 
turnal in its habits. The description of the animal, in the book, 
as I remember it tallies perfectly with the specimen in Mr. Fretz's 
possession. 
One in the Philadelphia Zoo 
One time at the Philadelphia Zoo they had in a small cage 
an animal ticketed "Indian Devil." When I first saw it it was 
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