Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-06-20
A WILDCATS AWFUL LEAP.
1t Was to Death, But Through No
Fault of the Animals Agility.


give seen it disputed in the papers
that wild cat, or catamount, can make
a leap of twenty-five feet, said a resi-
dent of Sullivan county, n. Y, "and I
would like to mention what ! saw a.
wildcat do once. 1 was trout fishing on
one of the upper tributaries of the
Beaverlill, and had clambered down in
to deep rayine to get at tempting
pool at the foot of fall, where / was
sure my casts would be rewarded by the
killing of some big trout. l was not
mistaken as to that. l had landed four
trout, the smallest one eighteen inches
long, and sat down to rest the pool.
Both sides of the ravine were perpen-
dicular walls OF rock, probably rs feet
high. The summit of the wall on the
side of the creek opposite to me sloped
back gradually from its edge for several
feet to a heavy growth of pine.
"As was sitting at the bottom of the
ravine | happened to glance up to the
top of the rocks opposite me, and saw q
pheasant accompanied 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
1OuIRs Ml1Cl CluotClCd ClOoClJ aDOut
her. The pheasant came very close to
the edge of the precipice, and it seemed
to me that she was placing her brood in
most dangerous position, when she
turned as if to walk back with them to
the pines The instant she turned
something like shadow fitted across
the top OF the ravine, and half second
later / saw an enormous wildcat cling
ing to the edge 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 O 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
luckless pheasant in his jaws He fell
with a splash in the water, and lay mo-
tionless at the edge of the pool.
II 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 leaped across to
seize her, but had misjudged the dis
lance and fallen short, with the resultso
fatal to him.
1lc Whit VI buc NubCi DIOuBAb OuO
wildcat around in a short time to the
side where was standing, and as l was
bending down to examine him / saw q
man with a gun scrambling down the
rocks. The man soon reached my side,
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 animal 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 rayine in
time to see him make his leap and fol-
low him with the bullet. 1t was that
which had stopped the animal short in
the tremendous leap it 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 struck the pleas
ant, 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 measurement was
forty three feet. 81 New York Sun.