Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-05-10
History Of Tiger Cnt-singuinr Additions
TO Natural History.


Ata late meeting ofthe Philadelphia Acad-
emy Of Natural Science, the following in-
teresting statement was made; Il,
DR.. Joseph Wilson, Sturgeon United States
Navy. related that he had in his possession,
during some months, on board the United
States ship VaHddlia, a female whelp of
small 0ceiot, (Fslir pardalis nininius,) COM
monty called 'tiger7cat,. 1t was obtained at
Realeio, Nicaragua, in the month of Decem-
Der, 1858. AT that time il was too young, to
eat anything except milk, but gradually came
10 eat crumbs of bread from her cup, and
small scraps Of meat. The animal was light
gray, Beautifully marked with dark elliptical
rings and spots, light underneath, his ears
quite Short rounded, with a lunated white
spot on top the tail about the length of the
body and nearly black. She was of the size
of anordinary cat and weighed five pounds
eight ounces when ten months old. She was
transferred to the Doctors protection in
March, 1889, when her age was conjectured to
be four months. She was named Miss Tiger
by scelamation, and BECAME reconciled to her
change Of abode much more readily than
was prepated to expect. .,-.. .
The 1andalia was miserably infested by
rats and In the course Of o few hours she re-
ceived her first lesson in the valuable accom-
pishment of catching them. A young rat
was caught in trap and presented TO her at
tention; she hesitated but q moment, when
she commenced struggling to get at il, and
when permitted she pounced upon it with
great herceness she walked about growing
with her prize, evidently proud Of the con-
quest. She afterward played with it for
about three hours, performing many fantastic
tricks in the way of tossing IT up and catch
ing it as it.came down, turning somersaults
and rolling over with it in her paws. After
this she seemed quite Mt home, and required
no more lessons in rat-catching, though she
,,o1l III
sioually happened that a rat was seen or
heard in store room or corner from which
there was no secret escape, and in oil such
cases Miss Tiger was Immediately called
upon and carried to the scene ofaction. She
generally pointed out by her actions the To-
cality ofthe object fpursuit and stood ready
to pounce upon it at the very hrst opportu-
nifty. On these occasions she sometimes
made tremendously long bounds, say ten feet.
Escapes in these cases were very rare.
She eventually came to understand this
business so well, that when called she would
run OUT and exhibit an eagerness to be picked
mp and carried, comparable to that of a child
which expects to be lifted into carriage. In
attacking rats she was quite fearless, and so
far as known was never hurt by them. She
mostly seized them BY the back of the neck
OF head but was not all particular if these
parts did not happen to be the first in her reach.
She soon crushed the skull by forcing her
long cuspid teeth through it, generally kill
ing her prey so quickly that it was not even
heard to squeal. After playing with it a
moderate time, she would eat it, commencing
with the head and progressing steadily till
she finished with the end Of the tail, only
stopping a moment 10 lick her chops, when
she came TO the heart or other tit bit. I'm
agining that the hair and hide were not very
good food for her, once partially skinned
one that she might learn to tear off the skin
q L,,tt ks,x hnr Lost chn
Immediately began to eat the skin, hair and
all, in preference to the other part. u
Rats were sometimes taken from her and
thrown overheard, as she occasionally caught
more than she could manage to eat; but she
soon began to show her disapprobation OF
this measure by very startling, fierce and
threatening growl. The First occasion it
went out to inquire what was wrong with
Miss Tiger, found her sitting near a big rat
and growing in a very unusual and start
ling manner at about six men whom she had
driven from their beds by her threatening.
They were standing around her with various
weapons IN their hands, but there was very
little prospect Of moving her without some
severe bites and scratches. As approached
little nearer than the rest, she showed dis
position TO take her prize in her mouth, and
while her teeth were thus employed caught
her by the top of her shoulders, and she per
mittsd me, without the least resist ance to
carry her of, rat and all, to place on deck,
where her growing could not disturb the
sleepers. -...,
She was frequently carried off in this man.
ner afterward, both by myself and by others
She would sit by the hour, very quietly, neal
her property, till she was disturbed by some
movement near her, when she would com.
mence with her threatening growl, which
was loud enough and fierce enough to make
the frmest stand back, till they had seen and
reflected on the state Of affairs. She had
another gentle, plaintive growl which she
used in calling for her Breakfast and or
showing dissatisfaction on ordinary Sigh
occasions. She had no cry which could bt
compared 10 the mewing Of a cat but sh'
could purr to perfection when in search of |
warm bed Her favorite food was rare beef
steak, which she even preferred to rats; bu
hunger snd petting eventually induced he
70 eat bread and butter for her breakfast
whenever she had night of unsuccessful
The eentleness Of thispet was really aston
ishino. She allowed herself to be picked ul
by anybody, without any worse mark Of dis
satisfaction than o little growing. Eve
when feeding, and under apprehension tina
her rat was about to be taken from her, sh
would not bite nor scratch. She would plal
with handkerchief much in the same man
ner as with q rat. She was fond of beinI
handled and when rubbed with the hand sh
would roll about on her back and pretend sh
was going TO bite, seizing the fingers betweel
her teeth, growing and biting with sucl
cautious gentleness as not 10 be In any dan
ger Of woanding the skin. But one excep
ton to this occurred; one of the officers at
tempted to play with her in this manner witt
kid gloveson and was Immediately Furnishes
for his sfoppery BY having her long teeth in
stantIy forced through both his glove an,
his finger. l..s W. W.
She may have perceived some differenc
between the texture of the gloves and that {
the fngefs on which abe was accustomed I
try her teeth She knew very well where
ind warm sleeping placea, She would fo
this purpose visit the harpmocks of the men .
night, and awaken any sleeper she happene
TO fancy BY phtting him gently on the fac
with her pawsi If encouraged and welcome
by pat on the back or top Of the head, sh
would lie down either against his breast or q
his feet; but if refused, by one or two, yer
gentle boxes on the ear, she would retire wit
discontented growl and seek q more hospi
able sleeper How she learned to distingnis
between the taps on the head as marks 2,