260 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



lawow) and in Podolia. It is nowhere common (Niezabitowski, 

 1934, pp. 190-191). By 1936 the species was considered restricted 

 to the Carpathians, where its numbers are roughly estimated at 300. 

 It is protected from February 1 to September 30. (M. Siedlecki 

 and National Council for Nature Protection, Poland, in litt., October, 

 1936.) The proposed International Tatra Park and the proposed 

 International Park of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Rumania will, it 

 is hoped, provide absolute protection for the Wildcat and other 

 species (Benedyct Fulinski, MS., 1933). 



The following summary of the Wildcat's status in Russia is de- 

 rived from Ognev (Ogneff, 1930, pp. 55-58) . The information is frag- 

 mentary and suffers from lack of material. Pallas (1811-1831) de- 

 nied the animal's existence throughout Russia except in the Caucasus. 

 Georgi (1800) reported it in the southwestern governments, on the 

 Dniester, and in the central Urals (Bashkiri). Brandt (1853) be- 

 lieved in an early, much wider distribution, as far as the central gov- 

 ernments and perhaps to the Urals. Kessler (1856, 1858) records the 

 Wildcat in Volhynia and Podolia. In 1854 it was reported in the 

 Governments of Grodno, Vitebsk, and Kovno. Sabaneeff (1878) 

 considered the Government of Minsk the center of its distribution 

 in western Russia. According to Charlemagne (1920), it is now 

 very rare in Volhynia and in the vicinity of Odessa and Tiraspol 

 (Government of Kherson). Old reports from central and northern 

 Russia in the latter part of the past century may have been based 

 upon feral Domestic Cats. The question as to whether the Wildcat 

 ever occurred in the Urals is unsolved. 



On the subject of general depletion Elliot comments (1883, text 

 to pi. 30) : "Various are the causes that have effected this ; probably 

 the chief one is the constant persecution to which the animal has 

 been subjected, as this species has but few friends, and no quarter 

 is shown when it is met with in the forest." 



Hamilton (1896, pp. 31, 95) remarks on the spread of the Domestic 

 Cat with the increase of the human population, and the resulting 

 interbreeding with the Wildcat, as possibly a chief factor in the 

 disappearance of the pure-bred wild animal in Europe generally. 



British Wildcat 



FELIS SILVESTRIS GRAMPIA Miller 



Felis grampia Miller, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 20, p. 396, 1907. 



("Invermoriston District, Inverness, Scotland.") 

 Fios.: Millais, 1904, pis. facing pp. 166, 170, 172, 174, 178; Pocock, 1937, 



p. 777, fig. 



The British Wildcat formerly occurred throughout Great Britain 

 but is now restricted to the wilder portions of Scotland (Miller, 

 1912, p. 464). 



