Pennsylvania wild cats by Henry W. Shoemaker
Pennsylvania wild cats by Henry W. Shoemaker is a regional natural history and conservation tract from the early 20th century. It blends field notes, taxonomy, and hunting lore to argue for protecting the state’s native lynxes, especially the bobcat, and to correct common mistakes in names and beliefs about “wild cats.” The book opens with a plea to end bounties and preserve wild cats for their ecological value, especially their role in
checking rabbits and rodents and cleaning carrion. It clarifies pioneer-era confusion among panther cubs, bobcats, and the Canada lynx, then profiles the bobcat’s size, breeding, diet, colors, and shrinking range. It contrasts this with rare, larger Canada lynx accounts, suggests a local “Blue Mountain” form, and discusses feral cats and possible hybrids. A long section portrays cat hunting with hounds, notes that cats seldom harm deer or people, praises the meat and fur, and condemns bounty-driven extermination with county-by-county kill figures. The final pages list notable hunters, give folk names and captivity notes, include a playful first-person “cat” vignette, and end with a firm conservation appeal: give the wild cats a chance. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Shoemaker, Henry W. (Henry Wharton), 1880-1958 |
|---|---|
| LoC No. | 16008237 |
| Title | Pennsylvania wild cats |
| Original Publication | Altoona: The Altoona Tribune Publishing Co., 1916. |
| Credits | Charlene Taylor, Paul Fatula and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | SK: Agriculture: Hunting sports |
| Subject | Wildlife conservation -- United States |
| Subject | Bobcat |
| Subject | Felidae |
| Subject | Hunting -- Pennsylvania |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77943 |
| Release Date | Feb 15, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 259 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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