442 CAT TRIBE 



and exceptionally small and delicate paws. The pupil of the eye, 

 under the influence of strong light, forms a vertical slit in a yellow- 

 green iris. From the characters of the skull it is evident that the 

 species is near akin to the wild cats ; and it may accordingly be a 

 dwarfed and otherwise modified offshoot from the stock of the African 

 representative of the latter. It may be described as a spotted rather 

 than a striped species, with the general colour of the upper-parts 

 creamy or greyish fawn, passing into grey like that of a rabbit on the 

 face. The hair on the middle line of the back is lengthened into a 

 diminutive crest, and the whole spinal area darker than the rest of the 

 body, especially on the loins. The markings on the body take the 

 form of large black or blackish -brown spots, which may assume a 

 more or less linear arrangement in the neighbourhood of the spine, 

 while there may be two or three oblique stripes on the chest. The 

 tail has much the same markings as in the wild cat ; and on the 

 under surface the ground-colour is white or whitish with large black 

 spots. The upper part of the fore-leg is marked by two broad black 

 garters ; and there are two similar bands above each hock, below 

 which the under surface is black. 



Burchell's cat has been recorded from Bechuanaland, the Kalahari 

 Desert, Bamangwato, Deelfontein, and the Orange River Colony. 



THE JUNGLE-CAT 



{Felis c/uuis) 

 (Plate xv, fig. 2) 



Since both this and the next species of cat, together with the 

 hunting-leopard, are common to Africa and India, the account of each 

 given in the Game Aniinals of India, etc., is here reproduced, with such 

 alterations and omissions as are suitable to the present case. 



The jungle -cat is a widely -spread species, ranging from north- 

 eastern Africa and the Caucasus through Syria, Palestine, Transcaspia, 

 Asia Minor, Persia, Baluchistan and Afghanistan, to India, Ceylon, 

 Assam, Burma, and north-west China. In size it somewhat exceeds 

 an ordinary domesticated cat ; and it is easily distinguished by the 

 almost or completely uniform tawny colour of the fur of the body, and 

 the extreme shortness of the tail, which is less than a third of the 

 total length. The ears are tipped with a few long black hairs, scarcely 



