Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-09-18
HUNTING WILDCATS.
THE PASADENA HUNT CLUBS DAY WITH THE CALIFORNIA LYNX.

New Edition of tho Game of Pussy in a / Corner"-The Game, Perched Upon a
 Sycamore Limb-In a Whirlwind of
 Ferocious Hounds.
 ''Is this coon or fox hunt2" asks a lady on spirited little bronco. II came out for wildcats"
 "And you shall have one," said the master of the hounds, as the bay of old ''Music" broke the stiffness "If that isn't a cat I am greatly mistaken. Stand back, gentlemen" :" he cried, as moment later the sounds grew louder and then the whole pack swept by as if in review by the sweating chaflng horses; away they go, living whirlwind, the horses leaping after. The plunging, rearing, scrambling is indescribable. Down the bank, up the other side, the green hands cursing, while the old climbers scramble over and find themselves in the thickness of thick ar royo jungles. Shouts come from all about. Some see the game, and some merely think they do; but finally, amid perfect pande- monium, comes the welcome sound, '"Treedr The horses come struggling up, some without riders and riders without hats. Some are caught in the briars and seem un- able to get out but finally tho field is assembled around a big sycamore, about which the dogs are grouped, making music. Some attempt to climb and fall back. One young dog gains ten feet up the slippery trunk, only to slide down again. What is it all about3 Cast your eyes upward fifty yes, sixty feet, and there ia the object of all the work, sport, early rising and general up- roar-the arch chicken thief himself How big he looks crouching on a big limb, backed against the trunk, looking down at his tor mentors; his two eyes blazing green and vel low, his ears twitching nervously, and the short tail moving back and forth, indicative of rage and fear. Freed surely, but caughtf No, indeed. The chances are that he will make another tree before the finish.
 "Give him chance to rest" says the mas ter of the hounds, who believes in fair play, If anything. "He is winded, and so are the dogs.n But the latter do not care to wait They sit and look with eager eyes, tongues hanging out, and white, froth fecked teeth, showing 0 formidable array for poor puss, who looks down to al0ost certain death. Still, cats are said to have nine lives, and he does not propose to give them up so readily.
 A CIRCLE AROUND THE TREE.
 "Now, ladies and gentlemen" says the huntsman, "form yourselves in a circle about the tree, and give the dogs full play, and don't shoot; the hounds have worked for the cat and they deser7e it. Again, it is the most humane way of looking at 1t; the dogs will Kill the cat sooner than bullet"
 With the little speech delivered for the benefit of the excttable tenderfeet in the hunt, the horses are arranged In big circle about the sycamore, and young man who wishes to beard the lion in its den crawls slowly up As he draws nearer the cat the latter looks around in desperation. The tail twitches quicker and more nervously; g1anc- ing down ct the open mouthed dogs, then at the approaching human enemy, the poor ani- nal is evidently considering the chances. Nearer the clinker comes, until man and cat gaze into each others eyes scarce three feet away. For moment puss hesitates; then, turning quickly, he steadtes himself, and with a mighty spring, is in the air. Down he goes fifty feet, bounces among the bush, a mass of springs, steel and rubber, and Is away. He has landed just beyond the circle and horse has dashed aside to let him pass, followed by the pack in full cry. They go like & flash of light, a roaring, crashing sound, scream-and puss is again visible, perched upon the limb of another bigSsyca- more.
 The same thing is repeated again and again, and the ladies repent, and cries of ''Let her go," "Poor puss," are heard among the baying of the dogs that are growing fairly mad with unappeased foreclosures. Again the young man faces the cat, this time fully sixty feet from the ground. Surely, if ever all animal had won its liberty, this one had. But the game is up; the dogs are spreading, and as out into the air the cat leaps, In magnificent form they collect, Down he comes like a gigantic flying squirrel with legs spread far apart, the soft cushion like pads ready for & rebound. Like a flash he cuts the air, strikes the ground at the
 
 of ferocious hounds.
 THE AGONY IS OVER.
 The agony of the cat is over in a second but the dogs fight, war and struggle until l each has vented his rage upon the inanimate 1 skin, that is now borne aloft as trophy Not few of the dogs but have not felt the sharp teeth and claws of the vicious cat thai tips the scales at fifty pounds
 "Well," said a tenderfoot, "for up anG down excitement that beats anything evel l saw or heard of It makes your very hai, l stand on end, and I fancy that if the oat should strike any one during the jump ht would in all probability go under"
 Two other cats were treed, and those, witt 6 coon and coyote, constituted the morning. | hunt. Like fishing, wildcat hunting changes l Sometimes they are plentiful, and again no ! one Is seen. In all several hundred of thest u1SCu1oSOuS udfS USSh k11lSu Dy bus hounds of MT. Bandini, and the sport may be ranked with any in excitement, while I being followed on horseback it affords a rid, through one of the most delightful portion. 1 of the southern country.
 ! The wildcat of this country, while not st l large as it's cousin of Colorado and othel
 states, is large and powerful animal for {
 cat, averaging forty or fifty pounds, witt
 small tassels upon its ears, high trump ane small, ridiculously small tail. which, how ] ever, is very expressive organ.
 l The wildcat is, according to some authori ties, the ancestor of the present domestic
 cat The long tail of the house cat may b'
 accounted for by assuming that generations
 of boys in pulling the tails of cats have pro
 ducsd the elongated caudal appendage. The southern California wildcat is, pro
 perly speaking, lynx, being a variety O
 these animals and known to science as 1yn1 rupes, variety maculatus. It has a widl
 range oyer California, Arizona, New Mexico
 and to the north and south.-C. F. Holden 1, ! San Francisco Chronicle.
 ! A Mean Chicago Man.