The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1889-06-20
A WILDCATS AWFUL LEAP.

Give seen it disputed in the papers
| that a wildcat or catamount, can make a
leap of twenty five feet" said resident
of Sullivan County, " and | would like
| to mention what / saw wildcat do once.
| tributaries of the Beaverkill, aud had
clambered down into deep Tavine to
| get at a tempting pool at the foot of a
| fail, where | was sure my casts would be
rewarded by the killing of some big
trout. [ was not mistaken as to that.
| had landed four trout, the smallest one
! eighteen inches long, and sat down to
| rest the pool Both sides of the ravine
were perpendicular wall of rock, probably
twenty five 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.
GAS L was sitting at the bottom of the
ravine l happend to glance up to the top
of the rocks opposite me, and saw a hen
pheasant accompanied by her newly
Matched brood come out of the pines aud
scratch and peck her way along the slop-
iCG open space, hunting food for her
young, which clustered closely about
her. The pheasant came very close to
the edge of the precipice, and it 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 some
thing like shadow fitted across the top
of the ravine, and half second later |
saw au enormous wildcat clinging to the
edge of the opposite wall by his fore feet,
holding the pheasant between 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, and be came
crashing down the face Of the precipice,
still holding the luckless pheasant 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 pheasants 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 nisjudged the distance
and fallen short, with the result so fatal
to him.
The whirl of the water brought the
wildcat around in short time to the side
where | was standing, and as L was bend
ing down to examine him | saw a man
with gun scrambling down the rocks.
The man soon reached my side, and then
| learned that he had shot the wildcat rs
the animal was flying across the chasm
upon his prey. Sure enough, Just ct
the base of the animals brain WAS the
hole made by the rife 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 see him make his leap and follow him
with the bullet. 1t was that which bad
stopped the animal short in the tremen-
dous 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 pheasant, which he
chung to with the clutch of death, and
still held in bis mouth when we dragged
him out of the water. We measured tie
width of the chasm across which the
wildcat had made his death leap, The
measurement was forty-three feet" Ncu
York Sun.