The Book of Cats. 97 



after their eggs, of which they are passionately 

 fond. 



Regarding the wild Cat, Pennant says, " It may 

 be called the * British Tiger ' : it is the fiercest and 

 most destructive beast we have ; making dreadful 

 havoc amongst our poultry, lambs and birds. It 

 inhabits the most mountainous and w^ooded parts 

 of these islands, living mostly in trees and feeding 

 only at night. It multiplies as fast as our common 

 Cats." 



A wald Cat is said to have been killed in Cum- 

 berland (my authority gives no date) which mea- 

 sured above five feet in length from the nose to 

 the end of the tail. 



Mr. Timbs relates how, in 1850, he saw, at No. 

 175, Oxford Street, a beautifully-marked tabby 

 Cat weighing 25I lbs., and measuring 27 inches 

 round the body, and 37 inches from the tip of the 

 tail to the end of the nose ; height to top of 

 shoulders 11 J inches: he was then seven years 

 old. 



The tame Cat's tail ends in a point ; the wild 

 Cat's in a tuft. The head of the wild Cat is trian- 

 gular and strongly marked, the ears triangular, 

 large, long and pointed. 



At the village of Barnborough, in Yorkshire, 

 H 



