THE CHEETAHS OR HUNTING-LEOPARDS. 



161 



animals have learned by experience that the 

 attack upon an unarmed man is no very 

 dangerous affair. 



The Felida hunt alone or in pairs, never 

 in troops. Males and females frequently 

 combine their efforts when they have young 

 ones, but these unions do not last, and for the 



greater part of the year Felida of both sexes 

 remain solitary. 



The Felida, and especially the wild species, 

 are far from being so prolific as the Canida. 

 Among the wild species two or three young 

 ones at a birth appears to be the average. 



The females seem to manifest a peculiar 



'-^ =i " " 



Fig. 73. Fahhad or Maneless Hunting-leopard (Cynailurus guttatus). page 162. 



tenderness for their offspring, and to watch 

 over them with assiduous care. While suck- 

 ling they leave their lair only during the short 

 intervals in which they are engaged in hunt- 

 ing. Constantly occupied with licking and 

 cleaning her unruly cubs, and watching over 

 their sports, the mother patiently allows her- 

 self to be ill-used by them in all sorts of 

 ways. In defending them against enemies 

 she will risk her own life fearlessly. There 

 is no more terrible creature than the lioness 

 robbed of her cubs during her absence. She 

 follows the track of the robber for immense 

 distances, uttering pitiful howls, and if she 

 overtakes the object of her pursuit attacks 



him with furious rage. Should she find her 

 offspring slaughtered she makes known her 

 loss with a heart-rending cry. The maternal 

 affection of the Felida is so strong that they 

 adopt the sucklings of other species when 

 their own have been ravished from them. 



In this family we distinguish three genera: 

 the Cheetahs or hunting-leopards (Cynailurus), 

 with long thin legs and non- retractile claws; 

 the True Felines, forming the genus Felis, 

 with short strong legs, retractile claws, and 

 30 teeth ; and the Lynxes, forming the genus 

 Lynx, with longer legs, retractile claws, and 

 only 28 teeth. This last genus is also dis- 

 tinguished from the other two by the short- 



