74 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



mother a sandy-coloured cat by a Wild Cat out of a long- 

 haired tabby, which he maintains proves, if proof were want- 

 ing, that hybrids breed freely either with hybrids or with the 

 domestic or the Wild Cat 



It is a well-known fact that the offspring of domestic 

 cats which have taken to a feral life assume the uniform 

 gray colour of the wild race. Mr. Wallace (" Natural 

 Selection," p. 40) says that domestic varieties of animals 

 which have taken to a wild life must return to something 

 like the original colour of the wild stock or become extinct ; 

 and to this opinion Darwin adds that feral cats, i.e. cats run 

 wild, both in Europe and elsewhere, are striped and grow 

 to an unusual size, that in La Plata breeds which have been 

 imported soon disappear, and that from their nocturnal 

 and rambling habits free crossing cannot be prevented. 

 Dieffenbach observes, in his " Travels in New Zealand," 

 quoted by Darwin, that in that country, where none but 

 domestic cats had been imported, all those which had run 

 wild had assumed a streaky gray colour ; and, according to 

 Sir W. Jardine, " there is no animal that so soon loses its 

 cultivation, and returns apparently to a state completely wild, 

 as the domestic cat." Charles St. John, a close observer, 

 has noticed in his "Natural History of Morayshire " that 

 domestic cats of a gray or tabby colour are more inclined 

 than others to take to the woods ; and he remarks that, what- 

 ever may have been the colour of the parents, those bred 

 out of them are almost invariably of the brindled gray colour 

 of the Wild Cat. 



These feral cats are generally considered, by those who 

 have not studied the matter, to be examples of the genuine 

 Wild Cat of Scotland. In some districts, and especially where 

 rabbits abound, they are becoming very prevalent. I have 

 lately, through the kindness of Mr. Bisshopp, the well-known 

 taxidermist of Oban, examined no fewer than seventeen 

 skins (besides examples which have been set up) of these 

 reputed \Vild Cats, killed in the counties of Argyle, Inverness, 

 and Ross, in the years 1895 and 1896. With the exception 

 of two, which showed traces of the early mixed breed, these 

 skins were undoubtedly those of feral cats, the offspring of 

 domestic cats which had taken to a wild life real vermin, 



