NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE CARACAL, OR SYAGUSH. 



THOUGH the caracal resembles the lynx in size, in 

 the formation of the body, and the aspect of the head; 

 und, though like that animal, it seems to have the pe- 

 culiar, and almost singular characteristic of a stripe of 

 black hair at the extremity of the ears, I am inclined 

 to treat of them as animals of different species. 



The caracal is not spotted like the lynx ; it has 

 hair rougher and shorter, its tail is larger, and of an 

 uniform colour ; its snout is longer ; in appearance it 

 is less mild, and in disposition it is fiercer. The lynx 

 is an inhabitant of the cold, or at most of the tempe- 

 rate regions. The caracal, on the other hand, is only- 

 found in the hot countries ; and it is as much from 

 their difference in disposition aud climate that I have 

 judged them to be of two different species, as from 

 the inspection and comparison of the animals them- 

 selves. 



The caracal is common in Barbary, in Arabia, and 

 in all those countries which are inhabited by the lion, 

 the panther and the ounce. Like them it depends on 

 prey for its subsistence ; but, unlike them, from its 



