34 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



haunts of this species. The pose of the individual 

 in the foreground (represented as capturing a sand 

 grouse) is well rendered, though it would have been 

 better to have shown it a moment later throwing its 

 whole body, caracal fashion, over the bird to prevent 

 its struggles. The South African caracals are big 

 enough to be dangerous, and attack sheep and 

 goats like a leopard ; the stomach of one examined 

 contained the remains of a dusty ichneumon 

 {Herpestes pulverentulus] a curious repast, one 

 would think ! 



A beautiful plate representing the caracal appears 

 in Elliott's "Monograph of the Felidce" A pair of 

 these animals is seen resting after pulling down a 

 large game bird. One caracal, handsome and dark 

 coated, lies curled up asleep like a cat ; the other 

 a red-coloured beast sits up on his haunches as if 

 meditating over his recent dinner. The ground is 

 littered with feathers, and some have floated on to 

 the neighbouring bushes, where they stick like 

 sparrows on a limed twig ; in the foreground is seen 

 a leg of the hapless quarry a grim souvenir of 

 the feast. 



The present species appears to have been the 

 Ethiopian lynx of Pliny, and was probably the animal 

 to which the term "lynx-eyed" was first applied ; it is 

 represented on the walls of tombs at Beni Hassan in 

 Egypt. The first scientific description of the animal 

 was that of Guldenstadt, who conferred upon it the 



