434 CAT TRIBE 



be described by sportsmen in India as a panther, and, allowing for 

 native exaggeration, is probably the same size. Some very large 

 Somali panther -skins may sometimes be seen exposed for sale in 

 Aden. The animal usually met with by the sportsman is, however, 

 the leopard, 1 which is distributed very widely, occurring everywhere 

 except in the great treeless plains of short grass, where these animals 

 probably do not exist. They are found in the open jungle fringing 

 these plains, and in the level thorn-forests of the Haud ; but are most 

 numerous in the Golis and other ranges, or any rough hilly ground, 

 where they are the terror of the shepherds, springing into kraals at 

 night without fear, and causing nine-tenths of the losses among sheep 

 and goats." 



THE SERVAL 



(Felis servat] 

 Tali, BECHUANA ; Tijger-kat, CAPE DUTCH 



The handsomest of the smaller African cats is the serval, a long- 

 legged, spotted species, standing between 18 and 20 inches in height 

 at the shoulder, and measuring approximately 40 inches in length to 

 the root of the tail, while the tail itself is about 1 6 inches long. The 

 ground-colour varies from bright yellowish buff or tawny to reddish 

 orange, upon which are a number of large solid black or blackish-brown 

 spots and streaks separated from one another by wide intervals. In 

 the typical representative of the species, which is known to occur in 

 South and East Africa, the spots are large and widely sundered, and 

 on the hind-quarters are often nearly circular ; farther forwards they 

 gradually become elongated with a tendency to form longitudinal rows, 

 and on the shoulders there are several distinct oblique stripes, while 

 three or more longitudinal stripes traverse the middle of the back. 

 There are two black bars on the inner surface of the upper part of the 

 fore-leg, and the tail is ringed with black. 



The serval ranges, in suitable situations, from the Cape to Algeria, 

 and across the continent from west to east. 



Considerable variation in the markings occurs even among specimens 

 generally regarded as typical servals. In two South African examples 

 shown in the British Museum (Natural History) the circular spots 



1 Naturalists do not recognise the distinction between panthers (large) and leopards (small). 



