148 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY, 
We made a walk for them, enclosed by a kind of hurdle, in 
which we could introduce Bats, Fowls, Ducks, or young Dogs, 
and upon opening their cage we found that usually only a single 
Cat came out in pursuit of each victim, and almost always in 
precedence, according to the length of time they had been in 
confinement. They caught Cats and Dogs by the nape of the 
neck in their mouths, and throwing them to the ground, over- 
laid them, without permitting any movement, until they were 
quite dead. Cat’s flesh seemed to produce the itch, which 
fretted them, making them mew like Domestic Cats, and finally 
leading to their death. They also ate Snakes—both innocuous 
and poisonous—and Toads, but these disagreed with them to 
such an extent that, after being reduced almost to skeletons, 
they perished in the course of a few days. If a Dog were 
as big as themselves they did not touch him, for they do not 
come to one another’s assistance; and if one alone cannot 
overcome any prey which may present itself, he leaves it. They 
catch birds by the head and neck, and thoroughly strip them 
of their feathers with their teeth before eating them. It appears 
that they are not unnecessarily cruel; my friend at least 
observed that one did not kill a fowl enclosed in his den till 
the third day. We frequently shut the doors of the yard and 
opened the den that they might leave it; those which had been 
most recently caught moved first, and on some occasions the 
old ones would not come out, even when the boy entered the 
den to sweep it out. We left them at liberty for several 
hours, during which time they examined every crevice and 
then lay down to sleep; on the boys persecuting them with 
sticks and canes they went back to the den without turning 
on their pursuers, although severely beaten. On a certain 
occasion, one of them becoming exceedingly lazy, on enter- 
ing the den he was abused and bitten by his female, as if she 
would punish him. ‘Their eyes shone at night like those of 
the Domestic Cat, which animal they resemble in form and 
