FELINES OF THE OLD WORLD. 



173 



which had placed itself on the watch opposite 

 me. I had been warned by a slight rustling 

 among the dry leaves, but the animal on 

 reaching its chosen spot remained motionless, 

 and I lay in wait for him in vain for an hour 

 before a favouring moonbeam enabled me to 



take aim at him amidst the bushes. The 

 wild cat seldom pursues its prey beyond the 

 limits of the woods in which it roams. Its 

 visits to poultry-yards are confined to the 

 neighbouring villages and the woodland houses 

 of foresters. The chief food of the wild cat 



Fig. 78. -The Wild Cat (l-'clis aitus). 



consists of field-mice, voles, rats, and other 

 noxious rodents; and it has often been asked 

 whether they should not be protected instead 

 of being relentlessly pursued. As regards 

 this question, as in the case of the fox also, 

 different interests clash. Game has scarcely 

 any deadlier enemy among our wild animals 

 than the wild cat; the hunter accordingly will 

 make every effort to extirpate it. On the 

 other hand, the peasant and the farmer, and 

 indeed even the non-hunting forester, will pro- 

 bably esteem more highly the benefits which 

 these animals confer upon them in reducing 

 the numbers of the game, and especially of 

 the rodents, which injure the forests and the 

 crops. These benefits are certainly not 

 counterbalanced by the slight damage which 

 they themselves do in stealing a few fowls. 

 Yes, it might even be asked, whether the cat 



is not on the whole of service to the poultry- 

 yards through the successful war which it 

 wages against weasels and fitchets, those 

 insatiable foes of fowls, ducks, and pigeons. 



Dogs pursue the wild cat with all the 

 greater fury, because it, far from fearing 

 them, makes a courageous defence. It re- 

 quires a pack of three or four strong dogs to 

 master a wild cat. The hunt is even not 

 without danger. If the wild cat is not killed 

 on the spot, it darts savagely upon the ag- 

 gressor ; and cases are known in which 

 hunters have been severely wounded by this 

 courageous animal. 



When caught young the wild cat can be 

 tamed to a certain point, but never com- 

 pletely. Its fierce nature is apt to break out 

 occasionally. Not a few instances are known 

 in which it has unexpectedly attacked its 



