Caracal 297 



according to Canon Tristram, it appears to be the most common kind of 

 wild cat. 



THE YARKAND DESERT CAT 



(Ft'/is ornata shawiana) 



The Fe/is shaiinana of Mr. Blanford seems to be nothing more than 

 a local race of the desert cat, of which a description is given in Great and 

 Small Game of India, etc. The present race probably ranges over most of 

 Kashgaria. 



THE CARACAL 



[Felis caracal) 



A full description of this lynx having been given in the work just cited, 

 it will SLifHce to say that within the area treated of in the present volume 

 it occurs in Palestine, Arabia, Syria, Taurus, Mesopotamia, Persia, and the 

 Transcaspian countries. 



The late Mr. W. Dodson, as quoted by Mr. Thomas,^ trapped a 

 specimen when travelling in Arabia, and wrote the following note 

 regarding the occurrence of the animal in that country : — 



" I think the beast is not uncommon, for I saw spoor on many occasions 

 near villages, and twice I was sent for to come and shoot an animal that 

 was doing great damage among the sheep — always tearing the throat out. 

 Now a wolf almost invariably attacks the Hank and kills that way, so it 

 was no wolf, and the only other animal I could put it down to was this cat. 

 Native information is more unreliable in Arabia than anywhere I have 

 been ; the natives know nothing of the habits of animals, nor do they 

 know tracks of different beasts when they see them." 



1 Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1900, p. 1 00. 

 2 Q 



