The Book of Cats. 231 



tiger on a buffalo, or that of a Cat on a helpless 

 mouse, the mode of action is the same — a bound 

 Avith the whole body from the distance of many 

 yards, a violent stroke with the fore foot, a clutch 

 with the claws, which are thrust from their sheaths, 

 and a half-tearing, half-sucking motion of the jaws, 

 as if the animal gloated in ecstacy over the blood 

 of its victim. 



This mode of life has gained for these animals 

 the common epithets of " cruel, savage, and blood- 

 thirsty," and has caused them to be looked upon by 

 the uninformed as monsters in creation. When its 

 natural instincts shall die out, then also will the tiger 

 cease to exist ; and were the whole world peopled 

 and cultivated equally with our own island, the 

 feline family would be limited to a single genus — 

 namely, the humble Cat. But as things are at pre- 

 sent constituted, the valleys and plains of the 

 tropics are clothed with an extensive vegetation, 

 supporting numerous herbivorous animals, which 

 could only be kept within due limits by the exis- 

 tence of carnivora, such as the lion, tiger, leopard, 

 and panther. 



The distribution of the feline animals is governed 

 by those conditions to which we have alluded ; and 

 thus the puma inhabits the North American prairie ; 



