CAT 77 



totally extinct, but be this as it may, a record exists of "wild 

 cats " destroyed at Glengarry from Whitsunday 1837 to Whitsunday 

 1840 of no less than 198, while — and this shows a distinction — 

 78 house cats, run wild, were destroyed in same period. In 1896 

 Dr Hamilton, in his work on Wild Cats, says that the wild-cats' 

 tree of descent is — 



1st. The Pleistocene cats — Felis catus inagna and Felis cata 

 minuta of Schmerling — the cats of prehistoric period. 



2nd. The wild cat — Felis sylvestris, before introduction of 

 domestic cat in 500 b.c. 



3rd. The wild cat, after introduction of domestic cat, 500 B.C. 



to 1200 A.D. 



4th. The wild cat — Felis catus (of Linnaeus), fifteenth to 



eighteenth century. 

 5th. The wild cat of our day, Felis catus f ems, mixed. This is 



altogether too perfect. 



There are, or were, no less than two saints Cattan, while 

 Sutherland in Gaelic is Cataobh (Cat taobh), the side of the cat 

 country ; Caithness is just the ness or promontory of the cats or 

 those who took their name therefrom — the Catti. Many places 

 named after the cat exist, such as Teachait (teach a chait), 

 Cathouse, the before-mentioned Cataobh (which is the dat. pi. of 

 cat), Beinn-a-chait, near Applecross, etc. It was in Sutherland- 

 shire, as may be surmised, that the " Cat " men dwelt, but the 

 Clan Cattan are not from the word " cat," but from Gille-cattan 

 mor. The Cat crest is modern, though the motto in Gaelic is 

 given as "Cat caonnagach meanmach le dream-chraos cruadail 

 maoidheadh ; na bean domh gun lamhuinn." This condemns 

 itself by its sheer elaborateness. Our dear old friend, "Nether 

 Locbaber," was strong on cats, his recipe for cream-stealers is by 

 having the left ear cut off, the following rhyme being given by 

 him when narrating the above : — 



A mhic a bhodachain lachduinn 

 A bun Lochabar nan craobh 

 Cleas a chait a dh' ol an t-uachdar 

 Theid a chluas 'thoirt dhiot mu'n mhaoil. 



Son of the whey faced carle 



From Nether Lochaber of trees 



Like the cat that stole the cream 



Your ear will be cut off close to your bare cheek. 



Such a " milk-stealer " in Scottish is "screenge." 

 That cats wore gloves seems to be an almost established fact, 

 even in the Highlands, from the above motto, and also from what 

 Cameron in his Gaelic names for plants, etc., calls Navel-wort or 



