72 FELTED. 



of the back to the root of the tail is a median dark bai:d. Ears 

 black, each with a large yellowish spot. 



Dimensions. Head and body about 4 feet 4 inches, tail 3 feet, 

 height 2 feet. A skull measures about 6 inches in basal length, 

 and 4*75 in zygomatic breadth. 



Distribution. High Central Asia, especially Tibet, extending 

 north to the Altai, and west, it is said, into Persia. This, however, 

 and the reported range still further to the westward into Armenia, 

 is somewhat doubtful ; the peculiar pale-coloured variety of leopard 

 found in Western Asia (F. tulliana) may have been mistaken for 

 an ounce (see Alston, P. Z. S. 1880, p. 51). The ounce is found 

 throughout the Himalayas at high elevations, and is more abundant 

 on the Tibetan side of the Snowy Range, where it is met with in 

 the Upper Indus and Sutlej valleys. It is fairly common in Gilgit. 

 It is known to sportsmen as the snow leopard. 



Habits. Not much is known of the ounce's life-history. It lives 

 amongst rocks at considerable elevations, never, it is said, below 

 9000 feet above the sea in the Himalayas. This, however, may be 

 in summer ; for Scully relates that in Gilgit the ounce descends as 

 low as 6000 feet in winter. It preys upon wild sheep and goats 

 (ibex, markhor, and thar), and probably upon any rodents (mar- 

 mots, hares, Laqomys, &c.) or birds it can capture ; it carries off 

 sheep, goats, and dogs from villages, and even kills ponies, but, it 

 is said, has never been known to attack man. 



32. Felis nebulosa. TJie clouded Leopard. 



Felis nebulosa, Griffith, Carnirora, p. 37, plate (1821). 



Felis diardi, Cm: Oss. Foss. ed. nouv. (2e) iv, p. 437 (1823) ; Blyth, 



P.Z.S. 1863, p. 183 ; Jerdon, Mam. p. 102; Elliot, Mon. Pel. 



pi. viii. 

 Felis macrocelis, Temminck, Horsf. Zool. Journ. \, p. 543 (1825) ; 



Tickell, J. A. S. . xii, p. 814 ; myth, Mam. Birds Burma, p. 27. 

 Felis macroceloides, Hodgs. Calc. Journ. N. H. iv, p. 286 (1844) (no 



description); id. P. Z. &. 1853, p. 192, pl.xxxviii ; Blyth, Cat. p. 58. 



Pungmar, Satchuk, Lepcha ; Zik, Limbu ; Kung, Bhotia ; Lamchitia, 

 Khas tribe, Nepal ; Thit-Kyouny , Burmese ; Arimau dahan (tree tiger), 

 Malay ; Clouded Tiger of British naturalists. 



Size of a small leopard. Pupil oval, vertical. Tail thickly furred, 

 nearly the same thickness throughout, and long, about four fifths 

 the length of the head and body. Caudal vertebrae 25. 



Skull long, low, and narrow. Orbit widely open behind. Hinder 

 termination of bony palate concave ; mesopterygoid fossa narrow. 

 Lower edge of mandible straight from symphysis to near the angle, 

 then concave. The upper canines are longer relatively than in any 

 other living cat, and have a very sharp edge posteriorly. Anterior 

 upper premolar frequently but not always wanting. 



Colour. General tint varying from greyish or earthy brown 

 (cat-grey) to fulvous (light yellowish brown) ; lower parts and 



