THE WILD CAT. 



ling toward him, and followed by the leveret, which she had 

 nourished with the utmost affection. 



When M. Baumgarten was at Damascus, he saw a large house 

 which was solely used as a kind of hospital for cats, and was 

 said to be completely filled with those creatures. On inquiring 

 into the origin of 'this curious institution, he was informed that 

 Mahomet, when he once resided there, kept a cat in the sleeve 

 of his gown, and fed it carefully with his own hands; in conse- 

 quence of which, his followers in this place paid the most super- 

 stitious respect to these animals, and supported them in this 

 manner by public alms, which were very adequate to the pur- 

 pose. 



THE WILD CAT 



Is so intimately allied to the domestic kind, that they evidently 

 constitute the same species. The form is the same in both, and 

 they exhibit the same characteristic propensities : the only ob- 

 servable distinction is, that the wild cats are larger and stronger 

 than the tame kind, and their fur is much longer, but very soft 

 and fine. 



The province of Chorazin, in Persia, is famous for a beautiful 

 species of this animal : its size is about the same as that of our 

 common cat : its colour is of a fine grey, and its fur cannot be 

 exceeded in softness and lustre : its tail is long, and covered with 

 hair of the length of five or six inches : it frequently turns it 

 upon its back like a squirrel, and it then resembles a plume of 

 feathers. 



The cat of Angora is larger than the common wild cat. Some 

 of these creatures are white, and others of a dun colour; and 

 all of them have a ruff of long hair round the neck, which gives 

 them the appearance of small lions. 



Wild, as well as tame cats, are found with very little variety 

 in almost every climate, and in almost every country of the old 

 and the new continent. This animal is indeed extensively dif- 

 fused, and existed in America before its discovery by the Euro- 

 peans. 



In England, the wild cat is not very common, although some 

 of an enormous size have been taken : one was killed in the 

 county of Cumberland, which measured above five feet in length, 

 from the nose to the end of the tail. 



Wild cats always inhabit mountainous and woody tracts; where 

 they live in trees, and hunt for birds and small animals. They 

 sometimes sally from their retreats, and make great havoc among 

 poultry : they will kill young lambs, kids, and fawns, and are ex- 

 ceedingly destructive among rabbits in the warrens. 



A tradition is extant, of a serious conflict which once took 



