194 WILD CAT. 



upper lip; the claws pale horn-colour; the soles 

 are black, and the whole under surface of the feet 

 brownish-black, with a tuft of whitish hairs anterior 

 K> the pads. Length to end of tail 35 inches, the 

 Head 4| ; the neck and body 23 ; the tail 12J. I 

 have been induced to be thus particular, because I 

 have not seen a detailed description, nor an accurate 

 figure of this animal, in any work. 



The habits of the Wild Cat are as yet little 

 known, no British zoologist seeming to have made 

 personal acquaintance with it. I have not met with 

 it in its native haunts, but have had an opportunity 

 of seeing a captive, which exhibited extreme fero- 

 $ity, hissed and spit, and screamed on the approach 

 of strangers, curving its back, erecting its fur, and 

 attempting to fly upon them. By shepherds and 

 other country people, it is said to prey upon game, 

 hares, young lambs, and various species of birds 

 and small quadrupeds ; to live solitarily or in pairs, 

 in the clefts of rocks, to frequent woods and thickets, 

 seldom or never approaching human habitations, to 

 climb trees with great facility, and to be an object 

 of fear to any one meeting with it, although I have 

 not heard of any personal injury which it has in- 

 flicted. It seems to be more abundant in the woods 

 of the counties of Perth, Aberdeen, and Argyll, 

 than in any other part of Scotland, and specimens 

 from these districts are not very unfrequently sent 

 to Edinburgh to be prepared. 



It is said to occur in all the wooded tracts of the 

 continent, as well as in the north of Asia, and is. 



