The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-06-12
CAPTURING WILDCATS.
il TOOK TIME AND PATIENCE, BUT
He HAD PLENTY OF BOTH.


AmaSa Nacomber Wanted to See What y
wildcats Kittens Looked LIke--He Set
= Trap and Caught the Mother. and the
Boy Discovered the Young Ones.
Amasa Macomber gotta glimpse Of big
she wildcat in the woods on the south side OF
Shiny mountain, in Spring Brook township
He saw she was going to give birth to kittens
before long, and he resolved to locate her hid
ing place and ind her litter Of young ones If
it were possible Nacomher is an old Spring
Brook woodSrlan, but he had never seen
wildcat under the size Of . half grown one
and be desired to find out how wildcats
kittens looked when they were real small a
few DAYS after that Nacomber went to the
dark ravine again, secveted himself III q
clu,np of bushes near little stream, kept
perfectly still and watched for the wildcat to
make her appearance.
PATIENCE on A LOG.
MacombeI is all inveterate smoker, but he
put out his pipe before he got to the woods,
and for four long hours he sat there watch
ING for the wildcat to show herself, not dar-
ing to light up for fear of attracting the ami
mails attention.
When he had about made up his mind to
fill his pipe and start for home he. had the
good luck to get sight Of the object of his
search. She was creeping Stealthily from the
hillside toward the rivulet, only 3 few yards
from where MacombeS was concealed, and
her movements showed that she WAS bent on
catching something. Within few feet OF
the brook the wildcat stopped, and for five or
six minutes she sat perfectly still. Then she
made spring, and when she turned Macon
Der saw that she had mole and Severa!
spsars of dry grass in her mouth. As she
ccntered I'D the hillside with her prey Ma
comlsar took note of the direction she went,
AMI lie also noticed that she hadn't had her
kittens yet.
a week afterward Macomber watched for
again in the same spot. He sat in the clunp
of bushes for three or four hours without get
ting sight Of her, but on the following day he
saw her nousing near the brook. She caught
something and bounded away with 1t, and
.Naco.uber saw that she went in the same
direction By that time the wildcat had u
nest Of kittens somewhere in the woods, and
Macomber began to lay his plans TO find out
how those kittens looked. He might have
killed their mother when he saw her nouslng
there, but he said he didn't want TO do It, be-
cause her little ones would sCarre to death In
case he couldn't find the nest after be had
killed the, cid wildcat.
So Macomber said he concluded to try to
catch her IN box trap. 1t wouldn't hurt
her any to be caught in that way, and If ne
caught her he could hunt around in the woods
for her nest without fearing to be tackled by
her. If he found her kittens he wssS going to
take them home with him and her, too; but
i he didn't succeed in hunting up Eer nest,
he was going to let the old cat loose, AMI be
prepared to slay her if she pitched on him.
THE BOY WAS ''MAscoT."
Sn the following day Macomber and his
Oldest son, Archer, took box trap into the
woods, baioed it with piece OF chicken and a
house mouse, and set it near the spot where
the wildcat had caught the mole. Both OF
them went to the ravine the next morninsFo
look at the trap Before they had got 10
sight Of il they heard u wildcat yowllng am!
screaming further up the raviue, and th"s
hurried dea,zfeeliIq sstlsSafs *Sat lths-ps''ue
had St0inOIeS17 Into the~trap during
the night Macomber said he was little
taken back and !. Bit provoked when be
-DOhtN SAI ON9Li SLS - w 4SNS SAi wy w sA-S
trap, for, instead Uf finding the she cat inside
q big buck Widest had his back bumped W
against the rods, and was snarling and spit
q ting and scratching 10 get out. Macomoer
said he knocked the male wildcat III the head
hauled him out, and reset the trap with the
q same bait, as the buck wildcat had not dis
- turbed it.
q Each morning Naconber and his son went
up to the raSine, but they didn't find the trap
sprung until the fourth day. It then had 8
screaming she wildcat in it, and Macomber
and Archer Let her scream and began to
search for her nest. They looked into every
hollow LOG around there, as well as into every
coy spot that was shielded from the weather,
and slowly worked their way up the hillside
toward the spot where Macomber had seen
the wildcat disappear in the bushes with tho
mole For two hours the father and son
searched, the trapped wildcat keeping up g
constant yelling all the time. Then they sa,
down on fallen tree TO rest, and Macomber
was telling his son that he guessed they would
have to give up, when the sharp ears of the
boy heard faint noise near the roots Of tho
tree.
Archer went to passing around without
saying anything to his father about what ht
had heard, and underneath the butt of the
hog he soon uncovered four baby wildcats
two Of which he held up for his father to
bock at. Their eyes were Just open, and Ma
comber said the hungry little things ulewed
a good deal like domestic kittens when the
boy handled them. They were spotted gray
and white, with nearly white bellies Archer
took the four wild kittens away in his hat
and when they reached the trap the fierce old
mother wildcat tried her best to break out
and made terrible fuss when she heard hei
little ones new. Then they poked the kittens
into the trap, and the old cat quieted down
She got them into a corner with as much
care as a tame car, Macomber said, and then
curled up and tried to hide them.
They Iugged the trap home from the center
of pole, and Macomber made 3 strong cage
for his savage captiveS,-Scranton Pa Cor.
New York Sun
4 Serpcntine Problem.
An astronomer from Harvard Observatory
some time ago propounded this problem to