THE OCELOT CAT 25 



are now received by the wild beast merchants almost 

 every month, as may be seen by scanning their 

 advertisements in the Field. The first example in 

 captivity in Europe appears to have been an old and 

 savage specimen savage perhaps because it was 

 old, since young animals are quite amenable to 

 kindness ; it was exhibited at Newcastle in 1788 and 

 is mentioned by Bewick. The first ocelots received 

 at the London Zoological Gardens seem to have 

 been the pair living in a temporary building in the 

 grounds in 1829. 



In the Antwerp collection, some years ago, the 

 writer noticed a fine healthy ocelot which was kept 

 in the open air : it had a roomy yard for exercise, and 

 plainly demonstrated that even tropical animals can 

 stand, with considerable impunity, continual exposure 

 to the climate of Europe, and that the practice of 

 such "open air treatment" is far better than the old 

 unnatural method of cooping up animals in stuffy, 

 heated houses. The ocelot has twice bred in the 

 New York Zoological Park. 



An ocelot once lived for about nine years in the 

 Calcutta Zoological Gardens. This result was 

 probably due to the care taken of it, the diet being 

 largely a natural one, including as it did a live rabbit 

 or guinea pig about once a week. The animal was 

 very tame, active, and playful, purring like a cat ; it 

 once, however, had an illness which in less experienced 

 hands might have proved fatal. It began with slight 



