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ANIMALS OF 



cept that on the haunches it is rather marked 

 with stripes than with spots. 



Descending to animals of this kind that are 

 still smaller, we find the CATAMOUNTAIN, which 

 is the ocelot of Mr. Buffbn, or the tiger-cat of 

 most of those who exhibit as a show. It is 

 less than the ounce, but its robe more beauti- 

 fully variegated. It is an American animal, 

 and is about two feet and a half in length, from 

 the nose to the insertion of the tail. It is ex- 

 tremely like a cat, except that it is larger and 

 slenderer, that its colours are more beautiful, 

 and its tail rather shorter. The fur is of a 

 reddish colour, the whole beautified with black 

 spots, and streaks of different figures. They 

 are long on the back, and round on the belly 

 and paws. On the ears are black stripes, 

 which run across ; but, in other respects, they 

 entirely resemble those of a cat. These colours, 

 however, which naturalists have taken great 

 pains minutely to describe, are by no means per- 

 manent, being differently disposed in different 

 animals of the same species. I remember to 

 have seen an animal of this size, but whether 

 of this species I will not pretend to say, some 

 years ago, that was entirely brown, and was 

 said also to have come from America. 



From this tribe of the cat kind, with spotted 

 skins and a long tail, we come to another, 

 with skins diversified in like manner, but with 

 a shorter tail. The principal of these is the 

 LYNX, the name by which the animal was 

 known to ^Elian, among the ancients ; and to 

 all our old English writers among those of a 

 more modern date. This name has been cor- 

 rupted by the Portuguese into the word ouze ; 

 and this corruption has been adopted by Ray, 

 who has improperly called this animal the 

 ounce, after some of the foreign travellers. 

 The first striking distinction between the lynx, 

 and all those of the panther kind, is in its tail, 

 which is at least half as short in proportion, 

 and black at the extremity. Its fur is much 

 longer, the spots on the skin less vivid, and but 

 confusedly mingled with the rest. Its ears are 

 much longer, and tipped at the point with a 

 black tuft of hair. The colour round the eyes 

 is white, and the physiognomy more placid 

 and gentle. Each hair of this animal is of 

 three different colours : (he root is of a grayish 

 brown ; the middle red, or of an ash colour ; 

 and the ends white. This whiteness at the 

 ends takes up so small a part of the particular 



hair, that it does not prevent us from seeing 

 the principal colour, which is that in the mid- 

 dle part ; so that it only makes the surface of 

 the body appear as if it were silvered over : 

 however, the hair of which the spots consist 

 has no white at the ends, and at the roots it is 

 not quite so black as the other part. This ani- 

 mal is not above the size of the ounce, but is 

 rather stronger built, and it has but twenty- 

 eight teeth ; whereas all the rest of the cat 

 kind already mentioned have thirty. 



Another animal of this kind is called the 

 SIAGUSH, or, as Mr. Buffbn names it, the CARA- 

 CAL. It is a native of the East Indies, and 

 resembles the lynx in size, in form, and even 

 in the singularity of being tufted at the tips of 

 the ears. However, the siagush differs in not 

 being mottled as the lynx is ; its Jiir, or rather 

 hair, is rougher and shorter ; its tail is rather 

 longer, its muzzle more lengthened ; its phy- 

 siognomy more fierce, and its nature more 

 savage. 



The third and last animal that need to be- 

 mentioned of this kind, is that which Mr. 

 Buffon calls the SERVAL, and which he has 

 first described. It is a native of Malabar, re- 

 sembling the panther in its spots, but the lynx 

 in the shortness of its tail, in its size, and in its 

 strong built form. 



These seem to be all the principal distinc- 

 tions among animals of the panther kind, from 

 the largest of this tribe down to the domestic 

 cat, which is the smallest of all these fierce 

 and mischievous varieties. In all, their nature 

 seems pretty much the same ; being equally 

 fierce, subtle, cruel, and cowardly. The pan- 

 ther, including the leopard and the jaguar, or 

 American panther, as they are the larg'-st, so 

 also are they the most dangerous of this kind ; 

 for the whole race of cats are noxious in pro- 

 portion to their power to do mischief. They 

 inhabit the most torrid latitudes of India, Afri- 

 ca, arid America, and have never been nlileto 

 multiply beyond the torrid zone. They are 

 generally found in the thickest and the most 

 entangled forests, and often near remote habi- 

 tations, where they watch to surprise all kinds 

 of domestic animals. They very seldom at- 

 tack man, even though provoked by him ; 

 they rather seem desirous of finding safety by 

 flight, or by climbing trees, at which they are 

 very expert. In this manner, also, they often 

 pursue their prey, and, being expert at seizing 



