v^ 



62 



THE WILD CAT. 



try-lovins habits were too deeply implaured to be thoroughly eradi- 

 cated and it was quietly destructive among his neighbors* fowls. This 

 propensitv cost the creature its life, for the irritated farmers caught 

 it iu the verv deed of robbing their henroosts, and killed it ou the spot. 



The Wiij> Cat Fdis Catus). 



The native name for the Ciiati is Chibiguazu. It was found by ex- 

 perimenting on the captured Chatis that the flec?h of eats and of vari- 

 ous reptiles was harmful to their constitution. Cats' flesh gave them a 

 kind of mange, which sov)n killed them, while that of snakes, vipei-s, 

 and loads caused a continual and violent vomiting, under which they 

 lost flesh and died. Fowls, however, and most birds, were ravenously 

 devoureil, being caught by the head and killed by a bite and a shake. 

 The Chatis always stripped the feathers from the birds before begin- 

 ning to eat them. 



Few of the Felidse are so widely spread or so generally known as 

 the Wild Cat. It is found not only in this country, but over near- 

 ly the whole of Europe, and has been seen in Northern Asia and 

 Nepaul. 



Whether the Wild Cat be the original progenitor of our Domestic 

 Cat is still a mooted point, and likely to remain so, for there is no small 

 difficulty in bringing proofs to bear on such a 

 subject. There are several ])oints of distinction 

 between the Wild and the Domestic Cat, one of 

 the most decided differences being found iu the 

 shape and comparative length of their tails. 



As maybe seen from the accompanying figure, 

 the tails of the two animals are easily distinguish- 

 The upper figure represents the tail of the Do- 



Cats' Tails. 

 ed from each other. 

 mestic Cat, which is 



long, slender, and tapering, while the lower rep- 



