Game Animals of India, etc. 



THE FISHING-CAT 



(Felis viverrina) 



Native Names. — Banbiral^ Bardeen, Khupya-bagh^ 

 AND Bagh-dasha^ Hindustani ; Mach-bagral^ 

 Bengali ; Handun-diva^ Cingalese. 



(Plate viii, fig. 7) 



It has long been a matter of speculation why 

 domesticated cats should display such a marked 

 partiality for a fish-diet, and yet be so averse to wetting 

 their feet ; and the problem is rendered no easier of 

 solution by the fact that the present species (which 

 slightly exceeds its domesticated relative in size) is 

 endowed with the same taste, and has no hesitation in 

 taking the necessary steps to gratify this desire. Nor 

 has this fishing habit escaped the notice of the natives 

 of India, its Bengali name being the equivalent of its 

 English title. 



The fishing-cat is a spotted species, of somewhat 

 larger dimensions than the under-mentioned leopard- 

 cat, from which it differs by the grizzly grey fur of the 

 body being marked by longitudinal lines of partially 

 connected dark brown spots, replaced on the hind- 

 quarters by smaller black spots. The short and bushy 

 tail, which is about one-third the length of the head 

 and body, is marked above by transverse bars of dark 

 brown. Very characteristic of the species is the 

 narrowness of the nasal bones of the skull, which form 

 a sharp ridge. 



This cat, which also inhabits the south of China 

 and the island of Formosa, is found in Ceylon, India, 

 Lower Burma, and Tenasserim. In India it has been 

 recorded from the Indus Valley, the outer Himalaya, 

 Nepal, Assam, and Bengal, and it may possibly occur 

 also on the coasts of Malabar and Travancore, although 

 it appears to be absent from the Central Provinces. 



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