Game Animals of India, etc. 



teeth are so disproportionately large as to be little 

 inferior in this respect to those of a small female 

 leopard. Concerning this feature, Mr. de Winton 

 remarks that " there is as little difference between the 

 teeth of the Palestine chaus and those of a female 

 leopard as there is between those of the European wild 

 cat and the Indian chaus — in fact, the flesh-teeth are 

 actually larger than those of the ocelot, and had the 

 separate teeth been found fossil, they would have been 

 put down to an animal of the size oi a leopard. 

 Therefore in this group of cats we have all the 

 intermediate steps in size between the teeth of Felts 

 catus (wild cat) and Felis pardus^ though the animals 

 themselves do not vary greatly in size and are not much 

 larger than the former." 



The Indian jungle-cat presents nothing calling for 

 special notice in its habits. It is very generally 

 distributed over India, from a considerable elevation in 

 the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, and it appears to be 

 equally abundant in Ceylon and Burma. Himalayan 

 skins may be distinguished from those obtained in the 

 plains of India by the greater length of the fur. 



This cat is less strictly nocturnal than the majority 

 of its kind, Jordon mentioning that he has known one 

 spring out and seize a peacock as it fell to the gun, while 

 the present writer has seen a specimen walk out of a 

 maize-field at midday. It is a destructive creature to the 

 smaller kinds of game, both furred and feathered ; and 

 it occasionally directs its attentions to domesticated 

 poultry. From three to four kittens is the usual 

 number in a litter ; and the female is said to breed 

 twice a year. It has been stated that hybrids between 

 this species and domesticated cats are by no means rare 

 in India, but Mr. R. I. Pocock, who has made a special 

 study of the subject, is of opinion that the evidence in 

 favour of such crossing is untrustworthy. 



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