226 



of the same hue. Some have the abdomen marked with elongated 

 white spots, and individuals occur with the tail spirally twisted, so 

 that the extremity has the lower surface uppermost ; and according 

 to Blyth, it was an individual similar to this on which the genus 

 was founded, and the name Paradoxurus bestowed, which has been 

 translated into screw-tail. 



Length, head and body, 22 to 2.ii inches ; tail 19J to 21 ; hind 

 foot 3 ? V ; weight 8 Ibs. 



This tree-cat is a common and abundant animal throughout the 

 greater part of India and Ceylon, extending through Burmah and 

 the Malayan peninsula to the islands. It is most abundant in the 

 better wooded regions, and is rarely met with in the bare portions 

 of the Deccau, Central India, and the North-west Provinces. It is 

 very abundant in the Carnatic and Malabar Coast." 



Although Jerdou says that the toddy-cat is rarely met with in 

 the bare portions of the Deccan and Central India there must be 

 some exceptions to this, for it is exceedingly abundant in the 

 military cantonment of Kamptee, living about the thatched roofs 

 of the houses and out-buildings, stacks of hay, &c., but as it is 

 entirely a nocturnal animal, it is not often seen. If they steal a 

 fowl now and then, the theft is well atoned for by the number 

 of rats they destroy. One killed near my house measured, head 

 and body 24^, and tail 2O inches. 



No. 31, Page 44. Paradoxurus Grayi. 

 The Hill Tree Cat. 



Jerdon thus describes this animal : 



" Color above light unspotted fulvous-brown, showing in cer- 

 tain lights a strong cinereous tinge, owing to the black tips of 

 many of the hairs ; beneath lighter and more cinereous ; limbs 

 ash-colored, deeper in intensity towards the feet which are black ; 

 tail of the same color as the body, the end dark, white tipped ; ears 

 rounded, hairy, black ; face black, except the forehead, a longi- 

 tudinal streak down the middle of the nose, and a short oblique 

 band under each eye, gray or whitish. 



Length, head and body, 30 inches ; tail 20." 



He says it inhabits the South-east Himalayas only, extsnding 

 into Assam and Northern Burmah, and that Hodson states that 



