THE SERVAL CAT 25 



we have seen that individuals of the same 

 species living under the same conditions exhibit 

 a marvellous disparity in temper, one animal 

 repelling all offers of kindness, whilst another 

 courts attention and receives caresses with a 

 graciousness not to be rivalled by the most 

 pampered of domesticated cats. It is the study 

 of the mind of an animal, the investigation of 

 the dumb intelligence which operates somewhere 

 within the bodily frame-work of the brute which 

 must ever constitute the most enchanting field of 

 zoological research, a quest compared to which the 

 most masterly treatise on comparative anatomy, 

 or the most scientific scheme of classification, can 

 only resemble the description of some soulless 

 mummy or the terse lettering inscribed on a 

 sarcophagus. The remarkable lynx-like appear- 

 ance and handsome coat of the serval attracts 

 the observer's attention at once, whilst the com- 

 parative frequency with which it is offered for 

 sale is an additional reason for supposing that 

 some day the study of the animal may be more 

 fully undertaken. In its wide range, in its ten- 

 dency to individual variation, both in colour and 

 disposition, Felis sei^ual is one of the most in- 

 teresting of all the tiger-cats ; and any naturalist 

 who takes up that neglected though fascinating 

 branch of Natural History — the study of the 

 lesser Felidae — will find it full of an enchanting 

 interest, and one, which once fairly commenced, 

 will not readily be abandoned. 



