364 BRANCH CHORDATA 



ensues a fierce struggle for possession unless the intruder slinks away. 

 The female fawns upon the contiueror, wliiehever he may be. There is 

 some, though insufficient, evidence, that the male is sometimes a polyg- 

 amist. Lions will live for thirty or forty years and breed well in captivity. 



The tiger {F. tigris) is about the same size as the lion, the female being 

 12 or 15 inches shorter than the male. He is more quick, sly, subtle, and 

 cunning. The tiger is exclusively Asiatic, ranging northward, even into icy 

 Siberia. Tigers are creatures of the mountains rather than the open plains. 

 The northern ones are adapted to the cold climate by longer and closer fur. 

 Tigers can climb trees and can swim considerably. Naturally, they hunt in 

 the evening or night, but extreme hunger may drive them to hunt in day- 

 time. The Malays and Hindus hold them in superstitious terror and oppose 

 their destruction. 



The leopard or panther {F. pardm) is both African and Asiatic. It 

 varies from almost black to a tawny color. It is spotted with small rosettes 

 or rings of black surrounding spots of light or tawny color. Some of the 

 spots are solid black. It is as ferocious as a tiger, but sly and cautious, and 

 far lighter and more active. It can climb a tree like a cat. It necessarily 

 preys upon smaller animals than do lions and tigers, playing havoc with 

 poultry, sheep, goats, dogs, wild birds, monkeys, and wild pigs. Carrion 

 also furnishes it food. Its cry is a " harsh, measured, coughing roar." The 

 snow leopard or ounce {F. uncia) is a beautiful creature, white, with larger 

 black spots. It is confined to the highlands of central Asia. 



The jaguar {F. onca) is the largest and handsomest of the American cats. 

 The head is large and the tail short. It has a golden-yellow coat, marked on 

 the back and sides with large black rosettes, between which run the narrow 

 lines of yellow ground color. The spots on the legs, head, and under parts 

 are solid black. It is found in South America, Mexico, and as far north as 

 Texas. Hornaday believes that it has the strongest jaws of any member of 

 the cat family. It is fierce, powerful, and dangerous, but is afraid of man. 

 It also climbs trees. 



The puma {F. concolor) is found in "all the great western mountain-ranges 

 and in many tracts of the bad lands of Wyoming and Montana, in British 

 Columbia, in the Adirondacks and Florida," and south to Patagonia. 

 Hornaday says that although the puma has been known "to follow belated 

 hunters out of curiosity, this animal is less to be dreaded than a savage dog." 

 It sometimes screams like a terrified woman or boy; it always flees from man 

 if there is a way of escape. It is a thin, tall animal of a brownish drab color. 



The lynxes of North America are "short-tailed, heavily furred, tree- 

 climbing cats," distributed over nearly all the wild portions of the country 

 north of Mexico, whether forests, mountains, plains, canyons, or even 

 deserts. They are neither courageous nor pugnacious unless cornered. 

 The Canada lynx (L. canadensis) has a long pencil of stiff black hairs rising 

 from the tip of each ear. It has large, hairy paws, and is a good climber. 

 It swims well, but runs rather poorly on land. A full-grown one weighs 

 22 pounds. There are two young. The Bay lynx, or wild-cat, is usually a 

 mixture of rusty red, gray, and l)lackish brown, with red prevailing. It 

 is found in both the East and West and in Texas. No lynxes are found in 

 the lowlands of tropical or South America. 



The domestic cat, says Beddard, is regarded as the descendant of the 

 eastern F. caffra or the closely allied F. maniculata, or from both and from 

 their interbreeding with the wild-cat of Europe, for many species of cats, 

 even the lion and tiger, it is said, will interbreed. Whatever was the source, 

 they have been cro,ssed and interbred with many varieties before reaching 



