THE NATURALIST AND COLLECTOR 
23 
the almost impenetrable thickets and 
secret rock covers that abound in our 
deeper forests it is a wonder that even 
the hunter’s sharp eyes can ever dis¬ 
cover his presence. Nothing- but his 
occasional defiant moods can betray 
him. 
I have never heard the cry of the 
wildcat except at night, and exper¬ 
ienced hunters tell me that it is sel¬ 
dom uttered in the daytime. When 
hunted with dog’s and driven to bay 
in a narrow thicket, from which he 
can not escape without running- the 
gauntlet, the cat seems to know his 
danger, and sometimes utters shrill 
and piercing cries, intensely express- 
sive of rage, defiance, perhaps of de¬ 
pair. His ordinary calls are not un¬ 
like those of the domestic cat, except 
that they are longer drawn out and 
naturally have more volume. Yet so 
seldom are these cries heard that the 
wildcat may almost be called a silent 
member of nature's family. 
As a fighter this cat has no superior, 
and with the exception of the larger 
members of the weasel tribe such as 
the badger and the wolverine, he has 
no equal at twice his size. The feline 
race are endowed by nature with weap¬ 
ons superior to those of all other car¬ 
nivora—those terrible claws proviaed 
with sheaths, and thus kept sharp 
when not in use. Our wildcat, though 
no larger than a beagle hound, prob¬ 
ably possesses twice the muscular force 
and agility of any dog, and can. in 
fair battle, soon make the pluckiest 
and strongest hound draw off whipped. 
Two powerful dogs may kill a wildcat 
but never without sustaining severe 
injuries. Yet, under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, and if not disturbed while 
feeding, the cat will take to a tree 
when chased by a dog, and will show 
fight only when brought to bay. 
—Plvi ladelphia Tim es . 
Dwarf.%in Africa were mentioned by 
Homer, referred to as an historical 
fact by Herodotus, and described by 
Aristotle. Pliny, a later writer, 
speaks of the pygmies as living in 
different countries. There references 
were substantially all that was known 
of the African pygmies until a few 
years ago, when accounts of them 
were first given to travelers by 
neighboring tribes, then they were 
seen by Schweinfurth, and specimens 
were finally brought to Europe. M. 
A. de Quatrefages, the eminent an¬ 
thropologist, finds that the ancients 
had information, more or less real, con¬ 
cerning five populations of small 
statue. Two were located in Asia; a 
third to the south, toward the sources 
of the Nile; a fourth to the east, 
not far from these; and the fifth in 
Africa, to the southwest. Two of 
these groupes, more or less modified 
by crossing, are still located in Asia. 
The African groups are farther away 
than the traditions represent, but 
in nearly the same direction. All of 
them are fragments of two race of 
blacks—those of Asia, Malaysia and 
Melanesia to be distinguished as 
Negritos, and those of Africa as 
Negrillos—both including* tribes, dis¬ 
tinct persons and sub-races. The 
Negritos, contrary to a common belief, 
are not an approach to the “missing 
link,” but are people of some develop¬ 
ment. 
From experiments made some time 
ago, Prof. A. Konig calculates that 160 
hues or colors can be desting*uished by 
the normal eye. About 660 degrees of 
brightness can be detected between 
the just visible and the blinding. 
The Aqua marine, a variety of beryl } 
has been discovered in North Carolina. 
