THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo by A. S. Rutland &* Sons 



PAMPAS-CAT 



Note the likeness of the thick tail and barred legs to the English -wild cat, 

 " Inexpressibly savage in disposition " (Hudson ) 



most beautiful is the GOLDEN CAT of Sumatra, 

 one of which is now in the Zoological Gar- 

 dens. It has a coat the colour of gold-stone. 

 The nose is pink, the eyes large and topaz- 

 coloured, the cheeks striped with white, and 

 Ihe underparts and lower part of the tail 

 pure white. 



Four kinds of wild cats are known in 

 South Africa, of which the largest is the 

 SERVAL, a short-tailed, spotted animal, with 

 rather more woolly fur than the leopard's. 

 The length is about 4 feet 2 inches, of which 

 the tail is only 12 inches. It is found from 

 Algeria to the Cape ; but its favourite haunts, 

 like those of all the wild cats of hot countries, 

 are in the reeds by rivers. It kills hares, 



Japan and a fulvous leopard-like skin in 

 India, where it is also called the TIGER-CAT 

 and the smallest of all wild cats, the little 

 RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT of India. This has 

 rusty spots on a gray ground. "I had a 

 kitten brought to me," says Dr. Jerdon 

 of the species, " when very young. It 

 became quite tame, and was the delight 

 and admiration of all who saw it. When 

 it was about eight months old, I introduced 

 the fawn of a gazelle into the room where 

 it was. The little creature flew at it the 

 moment it saw it, seized it by the nape 

 of the neck, and was with difficulty taken 

 off." Of the whole-coloured wild cats which 

 include the BAY CAT, the American PAMPAS- 

 CAT, PALLAS' CAT of Tibet and India the 



ftltto tj/ A. S, Rudland & Sons 



BAY CAT 



Photo by A. S. Rudland SC Soni 



EYRA CAT 



The lowest and longest of the cats, shaped more like a civet ) it it readily 

 tamed, and makes a charming pet 



rats, birds, and small mammals generally. 



The BLACK-FOOTED WILD CAT is another 

 African species. It is a beautiful spotted- 

 and-lined tabby, the size of a small domestic 

 cat, and as likely as any other to be the 

 origin of our tabby variety, if tame cats 

 came to Europe from Atrica. At present 

 it is only found south in the Kalahari Desert 

 and Bechuanaland. 



The KAFFIR CAT is the common wild 

 cat of the Cape Colony, and a very in- 

 teresting animal. It is a whole-coloured 

 tawny, upstanding animal, with all the 

 indifference to man and generally inde- 

 pendent character of the domestic tom-cat. 



