TINICUM WILD CAT DISCUSSSION 
Capture of European Species Raises Question of 
Its American Nativity 
GREAT INTEREST IN "FIND" 
1AHE publication of the story yesterday in the Bucks County 
Daily News of the capture of an European wild cat in 
the Tinicum swamp by Tunis Brady, a sixteen-year-old 
resident on one of the tracts included in the Bucks County Fish, 
Game and Forestry Association's Auxiliary Preserve, created 
great interest locally and among naturalists generally. It is also 
likely to raise a controversy as to whether or not the European 
wild cat is a native of this country. Dr. Wood, the author of 
the British work on natural history, quoted in vesterday's story, 
mentions this animal as being found in "this country," but he 
clearly means England and not America. 
Should Be Investigated 
Instead of becoming a matter of controversy, the question as 
to whether the European wild cat is indigenous to America ought 
to be a matter for serious and careful investigation. Present- 
day American writers on natural history do not mention the 
European wild cat as a member of the native fauna. While ad- 
mitting that the animal captured in Tinicum may be the Euro- 
pean wild cat ( Felis catus), they say it is probably an escape 
from a menagerie and does not belong to this country's fauna. 
There are others, however, who believe that the Felis catus 
is an American animal ; that in the early settlement of this coun- 
try it was somewhat common, but, as it does not stand persisting 
hunting, had become practically extinct over a large area of the 
country. These claimants say that it has escaped notice in recent 
years because it so closely resembles the "tiger" type of domestic 
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