Wild Cat and Boar.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 76

Wild Cat and Boar.

—How the Mother Protected Her Young ■ Prom a. Eazorback.— While whipping a trout stream in the mountains of West 'Virginia one autumn day with more than ordinary success, I saw a big two-potmder dart across a pool at the foot of a cliff o? mossy, vine-covered rocks, end I determined to get l him as a fitting fitish to my day's work. Below my feet the mountain fell away in a series of <teroace=<, dotted here and there wiitli thicket-3 of iaurel, blackberry bushes, andclumps of may-apple, through which the stream dashed. About a hundred yards directly below me stood a chestnut tree, which though not over 50ft in height, was literaiW covered with burrs, many of which were open, showing that they had cast their fruit. "While I wa6 looking at the tree and admit ing its beautiful proportions, a fullgrown wild cat with two kittens, so small than they were barely able to keep up with the mother cat, emerged from a. clump of s undsrbusl". a few yards -below. The old cat was doubtless giving her young a lesson in j woodena-ft, but she had committed a serious error in bringing her little ones to that particular spot, as she seemed to realise m a moment ; for after a few sniffs at the ground-- and in the air, the hair on her back went up in a, line from the top of her h&A to the end of her- short, stubby tail. Theii, catching one of her kittens by the loose skin on the back of its neck, she. sprang up the chestnut tree quick as ' thought a^d deposited the kitten on a limb close up to the bole of the tree. Leaving the Startled kitten there, she quickly scrambled back to the ground and caught up the other young one just as an enormous old half-wild razorback boar, with tusks at least five inches long, dashed out of the bush not * dozen feet away, closely

d } followed by a wild sow with » litter of it pigs about the size of a rabbit. The cat s barely made her escape, for before she had r ascended the tree ten feet the old boar wag i. stamping and grunting in baffled rage at 0 its foot. Sl After depositing her kitten in the crotch d of a limb, the cat descended to one of the (t lower branches, overhanging Ihe ground, c but out of reach of the wild boar, traio was y tearing around the tree, foaming at the n jaws and snapping his great teeth with i- rage. NeiSier of the animate saw me as is I peered through the brush ot laurel above c them, and as I was on the leeward side c they could not ecent me at that distance, a '■ and I sat there forgetful even of the big -1 ( trout I had climbed' the mountain to catch, , and looked on, wondering what the old oaf s was up to, for that she had some particular n object in view when she (took up her • , Position so close to the ground I was satisi- fied. That she intended springes- upon ': *£ c d *»ar and fighting it out then and 1 t ( there I could not for a moment believe, " I *°"[* knew— and ehe musrt-have known even r better than I— that she was no match for an s arumai that a full-grown bear would have s heeita-tev/ to tacWe. Bitf the. old cat 1 hod no intention of testing the fighting s qualities of the boar, though she kept a & o«a watch on his movements. Meanwhile t the sow and her pigs seemed to become s satisfied that so long as they had the proi tection of the boar they were entirely safe. i and ma little while tibey began to feed 1 r upon the chestnuts which literally covered i the ground beneath fche tree. Closer and 3 olosei some of the young pigs approached I to ihe ground beneath the limb upon which - the cat crouched^ until at last one of the r pigs while rooting around among the i leaves worked its way to a spot a little to i the right and almost beneath the crouchf ing cat. I caught a slight movement of - the latter as she orouched 1 lower and lower, 1 and a second later she sprang- out and . landed upon the unfortunate pig. Then 1 a,n agonised little squeal from the pig a nd » the oat was bounding away with the "wild > boar in pursuit, the cat carrying her vie- - tim in her mouth, much as a. pointer dog • carries a fallen game bird, bounding along i the mountain shelf in plain view, seeming i barely able to keep out of reach of the t formidable tueka of the boar. Over fallen - logs and rocks they ran, the boar sometimes ■ so dose that it seemed to me he would t, overtake her in another second ; then . around a dump of brush, a big log, or I rock they would disappear for a moment, I to reappear with the cat still ahead. How, long the chase had lasted I do not i know, so interested was I, but I s«w her at L last at tte foot of a ledge of rocks a couple • of hundred yards away. One glance must I have convinced the old cat tbait she could 1 not ascend the oliff weighted down with the body of the pig, for she gave it a i vicious crunch and threw it .aside just as 1 the c&<t boar crashed through the brush a • few feet away. Then with a screech of rage • and victory she sprang up the rocks and • disappeared, leaving her enemy champing ■ and frothing over the body of the dead pigTurning my attention now toward the i-~ohe«tnut tree, I found that the sow and her 1 family had ajao disappeared in the under- ' ■ growth, and while I was still looking the 1 old cat crept out of the brush end sprang up the tree, to reappear a minute later with one of .the kittens in her mouth. 1 Dropipine the- little bob-tailed fellow at the_ foot of the tree, she reascended and again returned with her remaining kitten; then after fondling and purring over them a few minutes, for all ithe world like an old house tabby, she trotted off, followed by he* family, and disappeared in the forest — Forest and Stream. — _____ — j