Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-05-05
A Tiger Cat.
urNouL4R ADDITIONl 10 NATURAL HsrORr.

DR. Joseph Wilson, Surgeon U. 8. Navy,
related that be had IN his possession, during
some months, on board ofthe u s. Yandaiia, q
female whelp of a small OeelUt, (Felis pardali,
niRimus,) commonly called "tiger cat" ItNar
obtained at Realejo, Nicaragua, in the month
! Of December, 1858. At that time il was too
young to eat anything except milk, but grad
ually came to eat cTumbcs Of bread from her
cup, and small scraps Of meat. The animal
as light gray, beautifully marked With dark
elliptical rings and spots, light underneath;
ears quite short, rounded, with = luulted white
spot on top; the tail about the length of the
body and nearly black. She was Of the size Of
Of an ordinary cat and weisEed five pounds
eight ounces when ten months old. She was
transferred to the DOctors protection in Marc b
! s59, when hee age was cor lecture 10 be four
months. She was named Miss Tiger by &C
clamation, and became reeonciled TO her change
Of abode much more readily than / was pres
pared so expect he Vanddtia was miserably
infected by rats, and in the course of q few
hours she received her first lesson in the val,
liable accomplishment of cstaching them A
young rat was caught in 3 rat trap and presenA
ted to her attention; she hesitated but a mo
ment, when she commenced struggling to pet
at it, and when permitted she pouhced upon it
with great heIceness; she walked about grows
ling with her prize, evidently proud of the con-
quest. She afterwards played With it for about
three hours, performing many fantastic tricks
in the way Of tossing it up and catching it as
it came down, turning someTsaults ana rolling
over with it in her paws. After this she
seemed quite at home, aud required no more
lessons in ratcatchiny, though she eventually
became very expert It occasionally happened
that rat was seen OF heard in a store room or
corner from which there was no secret escape.
and in all such cases Miss Tiger was immed-
lately called upon and carried to the scene Of
action. She generally pointed out by her
actions the locality of the object Of pursuit
and stood ready to pOunce upon it on the very
first opportunity. On the these occasions
she sometimes made tremendously long
bounds. say ten feet. Escapes in these cases
were very rare. She eventually came to UNDER
stand this business so well, that when called,
/ she would run out and exhibit an eargerness to
be picked up and carried, comparable to that of
child which expects to b, lifted into a carri>
age. 10 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 or head, but was not all particular if
these parts did not happen to the first Ia her
reach. She soon crushed the skull by forcing
her long csspid teeth through it, general kill
ing her prey so quickly that it was not even
heard 20 squeal. After playing with it modeS
rate time, she would eat it, commencing with
the head and progressing steadily till she fnist-
ed with the end Of the tail, stopping moment
/ to lick her chops, when she came to the heart
or other tit bit. Imagining that the hair and
| hid were not very good food for her. | once
partially skinned one that she might Learn
to tear off the skin and leave it, but this
was labor lost, as she Immediately began to eat
the skin, hair and all in preference to the other
part Rata were sometimes taken from Eer
and thrown overheard, az she occasionally
caught more than she could msaaRe to eat; but
she soon began to show her dislpprobatiOn of
this measure by very startling, fierce and
Threatening groWl. The first occasion it walked
me up at about midnight, and when went out
10 INQUIRE what was wrong with Miss Tiger.
found her sitting near big rat ard growing
in very unusual and startling manner It about
six men whom she had driven from their b { .
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 disposition to take her prize in
her mouth, and while her teeth were thus em
ployed caught her by the top Of her shoulders
/ aud she permitted me, without the least resist
anee, to carry her off, rat and all, to a place on
deck where her growing could not annoy the
seepers She would sit by the hour very
quietly, near her property, till she was distuib-
ed BY some movement near her, when she
would commence with her threatening growl,
which was loud enough and fierce enough to
make the frmest stand back, til they had seen
and reflected on the state of affairs. She had
another gentle, plaintiff groWl, whcih she used
in calling for her breakfast and in showing dis
satisfaction on ordinary slight occasions. She
had no cry which could be compared to new
ing of Q Get, but she could pur to perfection
when in search of warm bed. Her favoIi. Q
food was rare beef stake, which she even pres
feKred to rats; but hunger and petting eventu-
ally induced her to eat bread and butter for
her breafast, whenever she had night Of IN.
successful hunting.
The gentleness Of this pet was really aston
isking. She allowed herself to be picked up by
anybody without any worse mark of dissatis-
faction than little growing Even when
feeding, and under apprehension TINT her rat
was but to be taken from her, she would
not to or scratch.
But one exception to this occurred; one of
the officers attempted to play with her in this
manner with kid gloves on, and was immedi-
atsly punished for his fopPery BY having her
long teeth instantly forced through both his
glove and his finger.
She would visit the hammock of men at
might, and waksn any sleeper she happened to
fancy BY patting him gently on the face with
her paw II encouraged and welcomed by a
pat on the back or top of the head, she would
lie down either against his breast or at his feet
but if refused by one or two gentle boxes on the
ear, she would retire with disc1nlented RroUl
and seek more hospitable sleeper. How she
learned to distinguish between the taps on the
head as marks Of appreciation, and those on
the sides of the opposite Specification, is sub
jeet of mystery. fsit
On one occasioned it was noticed that she
had large tumor on the ride of her face and
q large abcoss formed. Il y as &C first supposed
that she had hurt her face playing with cat
fsh some one, however noticed that it pro-
ceeded from an irregulaTity in shedding one Of
the milk teeth. One Of the officers, Of uncom~
mon zeal in such matters, proposed to hold her
while the obnoxious tooth was extracted.
determined to crafty him in this matter, and
to the astonishme Of all he held Miss Tiger
on his lap while extracted the obnoxious
tooth with pair Of f5rceps, and neither of us
were scratched during the operation. d
She was fond Of dark places, and deliphted
in running about deck and up the rigging, ear
ly in the mornings, and on cloudy days. When
the men were called alOft to fufl "topAqalIant
sails" she would jump to the shrOuds and have
a race with them up the rigging, and with very
little effort she Wal "frst man in the top"
In the beginning Of December We were
passing the West India Islands, the ship, in
her course, starting fOeks Of flying fish, in
which Miss Tiger became interested, they
looked so much like birds She was observed
in moonlight watching them very intently.-
Her absenOe was noticed at breakfast. A search
through the ship made it certain she had been
lost overheard during the night.