80 the wild cat. 
trees, and prowling about a night in quest 
birds and small animals. Sometimes it 
sally from its usual retreats, and make gre3‘ 
havoc among poultry; and it will also kil' 
young lambs, kids, and fawns, and is excee^^ 
ingly destructive in rabbit-warrens. 
Wild cats are taken in traps, or by shool' 
ing. In the latter case it is dangerous to 
proach them, if only wounded ; for they 
attack their pursuer, and have such streng*^*’ 
as to be formidable enemies. A tradition 
extant, of a severe conflict between a man 
a wild cat, at the village of Barnborough 
Yorkshire. It is said that the fight coi»' 
menced in a neighbouring wood, and was coH' 
tinned thence to the porch of the chui'cli’ 
where it terminated fatally for both comba*^' 
ants, who died of their wounds. A ru^l^ 
painting in the church commemorates 
event; and, as some of the stones have ^ 
natural red tinge, it has been asserted th»' ' 
