186 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
Size.—Head and body, 3} feet; tail, 3 feet, but Jerdon states it 
grows to a larger size. 
This is one of the most beautiful of all the cat family. It is not, 
however, one of the most elegant in form and motion, but its colouring 
is exquisite ; it is quite an arboreal feline, and is found only in forests, 
frequently sleeping or lying in wait across the forked branches of trees, 
from which habit it acquires its Malayan name, dahan, signifying the 
forked branch of atree. The young seem to be easily tamed, according 
to Sir Stamford Raffles, who describes two which he had in confinement. 
Dr. Jerdon also states the same, he having procured a young one in the 
Felis Diardit. 
neighbourhood of Darjeeling. In the Zoological Gardens in London 
there was a very fine specimen about four years ago. Professor Parker 
says of it: “It was not always to be seen, as it was kept during the day 
fastened up in one of the sleeping apartments at the back of a cage in 
the lion-house, and was left out only for about half an hour before the 
gardens closed. It was well worth stopping to see. As soon asthe 
iron door of its cell was raised, it would come out into the large cage 
with a peculiar sailor-like slouch, for owing to the shortness of its legs, 
its gait was quite different to that of an ordinary cat, and altogether less 
elegant. The expression of the face, too, was neither savage nor 
majestic nor intelligent, but rather dull and stupid. It was fond of 
