ORDER CARNIVORA: CARNIVORES 261 



It is like Felis silvestris silvestris of continental Europe, but the 

 general color is darker, approaching broccoli-brown; dark markings 

 on sides and legs tending to be extensive, blackish, and well defined ; 

 upper side of feet and inner surface of hind legs ochraceous-buff, 

 under side of body duller; intercrural and pectoral white areas well 

 defined; middle of chest mottled with black; dark markings on tail, 

 legs, and upper parts similar to, but more definite than, those of 

 F. s. silvestris (Miller, 1912, p. 464). Males: head and body, 558- 

 660 mm. ; tail, 280-355 mm. Females slightly smaller. (Millais, 1904, 

 p. 170.) 



The following account is condensed from Millais (1904, pp. 170- 

 180) . It is not known when the Wildcat became extinct in southern 

 and central England, but it probably lingered until the forests were 

 cleared. In Wales it may have survived till about the end of the 

 nineteenth century. Approximate dates of last records in England 

 are: Yorkshire, 1840; Lake District, 1843. In churchwardens' ac- 

 counts and other records there is mention of bounties paid for Wild- 

 cats in the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and even nineteenth 

 centuries. 



Last dates in certain counties of Scotland are: Berwickshire, 

 1849; Dumfriesshire, Wigtown, and Kirkcudbright, about 1832; 

 Dumbarton, 1857; Perthshire, 1870-71; Aberdeenshire, 1891; Forfar, 

 Kincardine, Banff, Elgin, and Nairn, practically extinct since 1850. 

 "Northern and western Inverness is, with western Ross-shire, the 

 main stronghold of the Wild Cat to-day." Up to 1904 William 

 Macleay, of Inverness, annually received eight or ten specimens, 

 chiefly from Glenmoriston and Balmacaan, west of Loch Ness. "In 

 Sutherland the Duke of Sutherland does not allow the slaughter of 

 Wild Cats to take place," and the animals are on the increase in 

 certain parts. In Caithness the species was never common but was 

 reported as occasional until 1845, and it evidently survived to a 

 somewhat later date. 



The Wildcat's prey includes poultry, lambs, and roe fawns. But 

 since it keeps down certain animals such as grouse, hares, and 

 rabbits that are considered undesirable in deer forests, it receives 

 protection from the sportsmen who control these forests. 



According to the minutes of a meeting of the Society for the 

 Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire in October, 1922, "a cir- 

 cular to owners and tenants of deer forests in Scotland, asking them 

 to protect wild cats and martens, had been well received." Several 

 years later it is reported that "we get very gratifying reports in 

 regard to the preservation by land owners of wild cats and pole cats" 

 (Onslow, 1929, p. 7). 



"Mr. N. B. Kinnear remarked that the wild cat was now not rare 

 in the north of Scotland, and a good account of its increase and 



