220 REY. G. S. DOBBIE ON INFLUENCE OF CIVILIZATION 
tered than bears; nevertheless the game-lists of that country 
show them to be fairly abundant. In Sweden, however, 
where they were very destructive in the early part of the 
century, they are becoming scarcer year by year. In 1894 
only 35 were killed in all the twenty-five Lins of that great 
forest-clad country. The protracted existence of this animal 
in civilized lands affords strong evidence of its cunning and 
powers of concealment; for although it is considered a less 
formidable antagonist than its smaller relative, the Desert 
Lynx (Felis caracal), the ravages which it commits on game 
and on the smaller domestic animals are so great that within 
this century the Bavarian Government offered a hundred 
marks for every skin. 
The Wild Cat (felis catus), though it appears never to 
have existed in Ireland, was found in England until recently, 
but is now confined to the wildest districts of the Scottish 
Highlands, so far as its distribution in the British Islands is 
concerned. There it is not so rare as is generally supposed ; 
but it is hard to believe that the extension of deer-forests— 
no matter how benevolent the proprietors of these may be— 
will long preserve its existence ; for even if it were nota 
terrible enemy to grouse, it is far too tempting a prize to be 
spared by the ambitious sportsman or even by the game- 
keeper. On the Continent its range is sporadic and difficult 
to define ; for in almost every quarter of its habitat this 
species is confounded with Felis domestica. It does not occur 
in Scandinavia, and in Russia it is rare except in the Caucasus. 
In the Ural Mountains and eastward its place is taken by a 
closely-allied species, F. manul. It is spread over all the 
forest regions of Southern Europe, and a few years ago 5 were 
killed in the small state of Luxembourg. In many parts of 
Germany it is fairly common, and in Austria-Hungary it is 
so abundant that in the year 1896 the number destroyed 
amounted to 117. Of these an extraordinary proportion 
belonged to the comparatively small province of Styria, 
where the Lynx is now rare. There are strong grounds for 
believing that the Wild Cat occasionally becomes the prey 
of its larger relative. In the year 1898, 17 Wild Cats were 
captured in the Austrian province of Salzburg, 755 in Styria, 
23 in Carniola, 42 in the Adriatic Provinces, 75 in the Tyrol, 
