CHAPTER XXXI. GROUND VERMIN. 



WILD CATS. 



IT would scarcely be right to omit all mention of 

 the wild cat, and, still less, to pass over those domestic 

 cats which, not being satisfied with a comfortable and 

 comparatively innocent life at home, find it more suitable 

 to their taste to live a roving and destructive one in 

 the woods and plantations. Before, however, taking some 

 notice of these by no means uncommon pests, vermin of 

 the worst type, we will glean a few particulars concerning 

 what is correctly termed the wild cat, and which, Jike the 

 martens, if but of rare occurrence in the more closely culti- 

 vated southern and midland counties of England, is not 

 only occasionally found but is even common, in the 

 northernly parts and throughout Scotland ; whilst in Wales 

 and Ireland, particularly the latter, it is comparatively 

 well known. 



The wild cat differs from the vermin we have already 

 noted in belonging to a distinct race from that of the 

 weasels, and the whole aspect of the animal itself is 

 totally different, being exactly what its name implies 



