Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-07-19
A WILDCATS AWFUL LEAP.
1t Was to Death, but Through no Fault Of
the Animals agility.

'I've seen it dis uted in the papers
that a wildcat, or catamount, can make
leap of twenty five feet" said resi-
dent of Sullivan county to the New York
Sun, and | would like to mention what |
saw wildcat do once. | was trout
fishing on one of the tributaries of the
BeaverkilI, and had clambered down into
q deep raVine to get at a tempting pool
at the foot of the tall, where | was sure
my casts would be rewarded by the kill
ing of some big trout. l was not mis-
taken as to that. had landed four trout,
the smallest one eighteen inches long,
aud sat down to rest the pc OIL Both
sides of the ravine were perpendicular
walls of rock, probably twenty five feet
high. The summit of the wall on the side
of the creek opposite me sioped back
gradually from its edge for several feet
to heavy growth of pine.
"As | was sitting at the bottom of the
ravine l happened to glance up to the
top of the rocks opposite me, and saw
a men pheasant, accom- panied by her
newly matched brood, come out of the
pines and scratch and peck her way along
the sloping open space, hunting food for
her young, which clustered closely about
her. The pheasant came very closetod
the edge of the precipice, and it SEQ EN-
10 me that she was placing her brood in
most dangerous position, when she
turned as if to walk back with them to
Che pines. The instant she turned, some
thing like shadow fitted across the top
ot the ravine, and half second later |
saw an enormous wildcat clinging to the
edge of the opposite wall by his fore
feet, holding the pheasant between his
l., =
ment 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, and
he came crashing down the face of the
precipice, still holding the luckIess pheas
ant in his jaws. He fell with splash in
the water, and lay motionless at the edge
of the pool.
81 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 lesped across to
seize her, but had misjudged the dis
tance and fallen short, with the result SO
fatal to him.
The whirl of the water brought the
wildcat around in a short time to the
side where | was standing, ano as l was
bending down to examine him l saw
man with a gun scrambling down the
rocks. The man soon reached my side,
and l then learned that he had shot the
wildcat as the snimal 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, aud had lost his track of him,
but came near the edge of the ravine III
time to see him make his leap and follow
him with the bullet. 1t was that which
mad stopped the animal short in the tre-
mendous leap 1t had calculated on, or it
would have cleared the space with safety,
and doubtless with ease. The wildcat was
in reality almost in his death throes when
he stuck the pheasant, which he clung 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 measurement
was forty-three feet"