Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-12
A WILDCATS AWFUL LEAP.
1t Was to Death, but Through No
HauIt of the Animals Agility.

1--WE seen it tdisputed IN the papers
that wildcat or catamount, oan make
leap Of twenty-five feet,o said a resi-
dent of Sullivan county TO New York
Sun correspondent, land / would like
to mention what / saw q wildcat do
once. | was trout fishing on one of the
upper tributaries of the Beaverkill,
and had clambered down into n deep
ravine to get at n tempting pool at the
foot OF fall, where was sure my casts
would be rewarded by the killing of
some big trout. was not mistaken at
that. / had landed four trout, the
sat down to rest the pool Both sides
Of the ravine were perpendicular walls
of rock, probably twenty-five feet high.
The summit of the walls on the side of
the creek opposite to me sloped back
gradually from its edge for several feet
to n heavy growth of pine.
"As ] was sitting at the bittom of the
ravine happened to glance up to the
top of the rocks opposite me, and saw
hen pheasant, accompanied by her
newly matched brood, come out Of the
pines and scratch and peck her way
along the sloping open space, hunting
for food for her young, which clustered
closely about her. The pheasant came
seemed to me that she was placing her
brood in a most dangerous position,
when she turned as if to walk back with
them to the pines. The instant she
turned something like a shadow fitted
across the ravine, and half second
later saw an enormous wildcat cling
ing to the edged of the opposite wall by
his fore feet, holding the pheasant be-
tween his jaws. The wildcat struggled
for moment to drag himself from the
edge OF the abyss to a sure footing on
the top OF the rocks, but his effort was
in vain, aud he came crashing down
the face OF the precipice, still holding
the lucsless pheasant in his jaws. He
motionless at the edge OF the pool.
l supposed that the animal had been
watching the pheasant from the bushes
on top of the rocks opposite where the
bird had appeared with her brood, and
at his opportunity had jumped across to
seize her, but had misjudged the dis
tance and fallen short, with the result
SO fatal to him
"The whirr of the water brought the
wildcat around in short time to the
side where was standing, and as was
bending down to examine HIM saw a
man with a gun scrambling down the
IOChS. AC iliuu SOuh ECdChcu NY Sluc,
and then learned that he had shot the
wildcat as the animal was flying across
the chasm upon his prey. Sure enough,
just at the base of the animals brain
was the hole made by the rifle ball.
The hunter. had been following the
wildcat for some time, and had lost
track of him, but came near the edge of
the ravine in time to soc him make his
leap and follow him with the bullet. 1t
was that which had stopped the animal
short in the tremendous leap it had cal
culated on, or 1t would have cleared the
space with safety and doubtless with
ease. The wildcat was in reality al
most in his death throes when he struck
the pheasant, which he chung to with
the clutch of death, and still held in his
mouth when we dragged him out Of the
water. We measured the width of the
chasm across which the wildcat had
made his death leap. The measure
ment was forty-three feet" "-