Wild Cats.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



white : the fur is not sleek, but rather crisp. The 

 skin of the cheetah is an article of some importance 

 m trade at Senegal, but is neglected at the Cape of 

 Good Hope : this animal called luipard by the Dutch 

 colonists is indeed rare in that district, but the skin 

 is occasionally seen worn by Kaffir chiefs, by way of 

 distinction. In Africa the rude natives never dream 

 of empioyinsr the cheetah as a means of procuring 

 I'ood, — they know not its value in the chase. In 

 Persia and India it has, however, been employed 

 from an early period. In the ' FieJd-Sports of 

 India,' the mode of coursing with the cheetah is 

 thus described. " They (the cheetahs) are led out 

 in chains, with blinds over their eyes, and sometimes 

 carried out in carts, and when antelopes, or deer, 

 are seen on a plain, should any of them be separated 

 from the rest, the cheetah's head is brought to face 

 It, the blinds are removed, and the chain is taken 

 off. He immediately crouches (see'figiue 38), and 

 creeps along with his belly almost touching tlie 

 ground, until he gets within a short distance of the 

 deer, who, although seeing him approach, appears 

 so fascinated that he seldom attempts to run awaj'. 

 The cheetah then makes a few surprising springs, 

 and seizes the deer by the neck. If many deer are 

 near each other, they often escape by flight, their 

 number, perhaps, giving them confidence." 



We may add to this that the cheetah takes ad- 

 vantage of every means of making its attack, and 

 that, when unsuccessful in its ettbrt, it returns sul- 

 lenly to its keeper, who replaces the hood, and re- 

 ser\'e3 him for another opportunity. When, how- 

 ever, he has grappled with the quarry and fixed 

 himself upon its throat, drinking the life-blood 

 warm, his nature breaks out in all its violence, so 

 that it requires some management to separate him 

 from his victim. Partly awed by the keeper's voice, 

 partly enticed by pieces of meat, and a ladleful of 

 the blood, he is induced to relinquish the prize, and 

 submit to be again hooded. In all this we are re- 

 minded of the art of falconry. 



In captivity the cheetah is familiar, gentle, and 

 playful ; and becomes greatly attached to those who 

 feed or notice it. The general disposition of these 

 beautiful creatures is, indeed, frank and confiding; 

 and consequently there is little trouble in rendering 

 them perfectly domestic. Their voice of pleasure 

 is a fiiir ; of uneasiness or hunger, a, short reiterated 



"'*"'■ 39 & 49.— The Wild Cat 



(F(?/(> Coins). This cat is the C/iat Sauvuge of the 

 French, Goto Monies of the Spaniards, fVilde Katze 

 and Bawnritter of the Germans, Vitd Kat of the 

 Danes, Calhgned of the ancient Britons, and Catus 

 Sijlveslris of Klein. This species, which yet exists 

 in the mountainous and wooded districts of the 

 British islands, is spread through a great part of 

 Europe and Asia. It is common in the forest tracts 

 of Germany, Rus.sia, Hungary, the north of Asia, 

 and Xepaul. It is larger, and has fuller fur, in the 

 colder latitudes. 



In Britain it was formerly very abundant, and was 

 one of the beasts of cha.se, as we learn from king 

 Richard II.'s charter to the abbot of Peterborough, 

 giving him permission to hunt the hare, fox, and 

 will! cat. The fur in those days does not seem to 

 have been of much value, for it is oixlained in 

 bishop Corboyl's canons, a.d. 1127, that no abbess 

 or nun should use more costly apparel than such as 

 is made of iamb's or cat's skins. The wild cat is 

 still found in the hilly parts of the north. of England, 

 and more plentifully in Scotland and some parts of 

 Ireland. 



Its general form is robust ; the tail is bushy, and 

 fuller at the termination. The general colour is grey, 

 undulated with transverse blackish stripes ; a black 

 streak runs down the back ; the tail is annulated ; the 

 soles of the feet to the heel are black ; two black 

 stripes pass from the eyes over and behind the eajs. 

 The fur is deep. Length of head and boely one foot 

 ten inches ; of the tail eleven inches. T'emminck 

 ^ives the total average length as three feet. Hares, 

 leverets, rabbits, and birds are its prey. It is bold and 

 savage, and defends its young with great obstinacy. 

 Formerly naturalists regarded this cat as the origin of 

 the domestic cat, but of late years this opinion has 

 been questioned. In the first place, a cat in a do- 

 mestic condition was one of the animals reverenced 

 by the ancient Egyptians, and mummies of it are 

 found in the pits of Thebes. Now this cat was not 

 the common wild cat, but a distinct species. In 

 the second place, the domestic cat is not noticed as 

 being one of the domestic animals of the ancient 

 Britons by any of the Latin writere, nor, indeed, do 

 we hear of it in our island till the tenth century, 

 when we find its value fixed at a high rate, and laws 

 enacted to regulate its presei-vation. The Welsh 

 statutes of Hovvel Dha (who died a.d. 948) are, in 

 fact, proofs of its importance ; and such laws. would 

 hardly have been laid down had not the animal 

 been regarded in the light of a new and important 

 acquisition. If it were indeed the offspring of the 

 wild cat. which then abounded in the forests of our 



island, the opportunities of procuring young broods 

 would have been so abundant, that all regulations 

 respecting it would have been superfluous ; and 

 still less would the then considerable sums of a 

 penny as the price of a kitten before it could see, 

 two-pence until it caught a mouse, and after that 

 Ibur-pence, have been established. There are, be- 

 sides, other regulations, all tending to prove the 

 high value afiixed to the domestic cat at that pe- 

 riod. In the third place, the wild cat is much 

 larger than our domesticated cat, and this is con- 

 trary to the general rule, domesticated animals being 

 larger than their wild relatives. It may be observed 

 that the tail of the wild cat is rather short, full, and 

 cylindrical ; while in the domestic cat it is long and 

 taper. Besides, the wild cat stands higher on the 

 limbs, and is of a more lynx-like figure." Dr. Flem- 

 ing considers it probable that the domestic kind is 

 Oiiginally from Asia, but Ruppel and Temminc); 

 consider it as decidedly the descendant of the tame 

 Egyptian cat (Felis maniculata), found now wild in 

 Upper Egypt and Nubia. It is ea.sy to perceive 

 how from Egypt the domestic cat would pass into 

 Greece and Italy, and so into the western jjrovinces 

 of the Roman Empire. It is most probable, then, 

 that Temminek and Ri'ippel are correct ; but still, 

 has not the domestic cat in Europe subsequently in- 

 termingled with the wild cat, and produced a 

 mixed, though fertile, breed ? We are inclined to 

 think so. Cats of the domestic kind often assume 

 wild habits, and live in warrens, preserves, and 

 woods : we must distinguish between these and the 

 true wild cat. 



40. — The Egyptian' Cat 

 (Felis Maniculata). This cat was discovered in 

 Nubia by Riippel, west of the Nile, near Arabukol, 

 in a rocky district overrun with brushwood. It is 

 of the size of a moderate domestic, cat, and is pro- 

 bably of the same stock as that of the domestic cat 

 which the Egyptians honoured. Ruppel considers 

 it a descendant of that breed, but it may be, and 

 probably is, from the wild original race, and is in- 

 digenous in Nubia. It agrees exactly with the pre- 

 served mummies of cats which the Egyptians em- 

 balmed. The following is a detailed description 

 of this species : — 



The woolly or ground hair is in general of a dirty 

 ochreous, darker on the back and posterior parts, 

 and becoming gradually lighter on the anterior and 

 lateral parts ; longer hair of a swarthy dirty white, 

 so that the appearance of the animal is greyish- 

 yellow. Skin of the edges of the lips and of the 

 nose bare and black. Beaiil and bristles of the eye- 

 bro\ys shining white, biown at the roofs ; edges of 

 eyelids black ; iris glaring yello.v. From the inner 

 corner near the eye tiiere'is a daik-brown streak 

 running in the direction of the nose, and there is a 

 white streak as far up as the arch of the eyebrows : 

 between these two streaks is another greyish one 

 extending on the forehead by the side of the ears 

 and under the eyes. Outside of the ears grey, in- 

 side white and without tufts of hair. Eight slender 

 black undulating lines arise on the forehead, run 

 along the occiput, and are lo.st in the upper part of 

 the neck. Cheeks, throat, and anterior part of the 

 neck shining white. Two ochreous-yellow lines 

 spring, the one from the outer corner of the eye, the 

 other from the middle of the cheek, and meet both 

 together under the ear, and two rings of the same 

 colour encircle the white neck ; below the rings 

 there are spots of ochreous-yellow. Chest and belly 

 dirty white, with similar spots or semicircular lines. 

 A dark streak along the back becomes lighter as it 

 rises over the shoulders, and darker on the cross. 

 This streak is gradually lost on the upper part of 

 the tail, the lower sniface of which is white-yellow. 

 The tail is almost of an equal thickness, rather slen- 

 der, and with two dark rings at its point. The ex- 

 tremities, which have less hair in proportion on the 

 outer side, are of the general colour, with besides 

 five or six blackish semicircular bands on the fore- 

 legs, and six distinct dark cross streaks on the hind- 

 legs. The inner sides are lighter in colour, with 

 two black spots or streaks on the upper parts of the 

 fore-legs, and the hind extremities show the cross 

 streaks winding around the thighs towards the in- 

 side. Foot, soles, hind parts of ankles, and wrists 

 shining black. Length two feet five inches, the t.ail 

 being about nine ; height at the shoulder about 

 nine inches and a half. The description was taken 

 from an aged female. 



41. — The Jaguar 

 {Felis Op.pa). The jaguar is the leopard or panther 

 of the American forests, and in power and daring 

 almost approaches to the liger of the Indian jungles. 

 We have already stated that specimens of this savage 

 beast have been confounded wilh the leopard 

 (42, 43) ; but the jaguar, besides differing in otlier 

 points, always displays a bold s'reaJi or two of black, 

 extending acro.ss the chest Irom shoulder to shoul- 

 der, which is a distinctive chaiaeter. Tlie rosettes 



on the body are very large, open, and somewhat 

 angu.ar, with a central spot or two of black in each • 

 a central chain of black dashes extends al.)ncr the 

 spine. The jaguar, though varying in size, generally 

 exceeds the leopard ; and its form is more robu»« 

 and less agile and graceful. The limbs are short 

 but immensely thick and muscular ; the head larger, 

 and of a squarer contour, and the tail of less com- 

 parative length. Of all the American Felidae, the 

 jaguar is the mo.st formidable. It prefei-s the marshy 

 and wooded districts of the warmer latitudes, and 

 haunts the vast forests along the larger rivei-s. It 

 swims and climbs with equal ease, and preys oii the 

 arger domestic quadrupeds, on peccaries, capy- 

 baras, and monkeys, as well as on fish and tortoises 

 .Sonnini saw the scratches left by the claws of the 

 jaguar on the smooth bark of a tree some fortv feet 

 high, without branches; he traced the marks of se- 

 veral slips made by the climber, but the animal had 

 at last readied the top. Humboldt heard the ja- 

 suars^ yell from the tops of the trees, followed by 

 the sharp, shrill, long whistle of the terrified mon- 

 keys, as they seemed to flee. It takes birds on 

 their nests, and fish in the shallows ; and, in some 

 districts, the havoc it makes among horses, cattle 

 and sheep is terrible. So great are the numbers of 

 these beasts in the Spanish colonies, that, according 

 to Humboldt, four thousand were annually killed • 

 and two thousand skins were exported eveiy year 

 IVom Buenos Ayres only. The emjity shells of 

 turtles were pointed out to Humboldt as having 

 been cleared of their contents by the jaguar, which 

 watches them as they come to the sandy""beaches tc 

 lay their eggs, pounces upon them, and turnsthem on 

 their backs : he then insinuates his paw between the 

 shells, and scoops out the contents as clean as with 

 a knife. As he turns many more than he can de- 

 vour at a meal, the Indians often profit bv his dex- 

 terous cunning. The eggs of the turtle' are often 

 dug up by him out of the sand, and devoured ; and 

 voung turtles, on their road to the water, or in shal- 

 lows, are also destroyed. 



It is not often that the jaguar voluntarily attacks 

 man. When hard pressed, however, he makes a 

 resolute defence. The Indians often despatch him 

 with their poisoned arrows, and sometimes boldly 

 attack him with lances. On the plains the lasso is 

 used with great effect. 



There is a black variety of the jaguar, le jaguar 

 noir of the French, and probably the juguarete of 

 Marcgrave. This seems to have been the animal 

 noticed by Lieut. Maw, R.N. (' Journal of a Passage 

 irom the Pacific to the Atlantic: 1829), at Para, as 

 a black on^a. It had been procured up the rivers, 

 and was a formidable beast, with limbs as thick as' 

 (Lieut. iAIawsavs thicker than) those of a Benjjal 

 tiger. 



44, 4,5, 46.— The Puma 

 {Felis concolor, Linn.) This large feline animal is 

 often called the American lion, chiefly, as it would 

 appear, from its uniformity of colour, which, com- 

 bined with its ferocity, led the early travellers to 

 give it that appellation. Thus John de Laet (1633) 

 says that lions are found in Peru, though they be 

 few and not so ferocious as they are in Africa, and 

 that I hey are called in the native tongue puma. 

 In ' The Perfect Description of Virginia,' (a tract, 

 1619,) "Lyons, beares, leopards, and elkes" are 

 enumerated. Hernandez describes it (1651) as the 

 puma seu Ico Americaniis, and contends, rightly 

 enough, that it is not a true lion. By Piso" the 

 animal is noticed as the cuguacuura. Marcgrave 

 terms it the cnguacurana of the Brazilians ; D'Azara, 

 the gouazouara of Paraguay. Hence the French 

 name, often used by British writers, couguar. Char- 

 levoix descrilies it under the erroneous names of 

 carcajou and quincajou. The Anglo-Americans 

 term it " panther," and under this name Lawson. 

 Catesby, and others describe it. 



In its general contour, the puma is elegantly 

 formed ; but the limbs are very thick, while the 

 head is comparatively small, particularly in the fe- 

 male. The general colour is silvery-l'awn above, 

 fading into white beneath and on the inside of the 

 limbs ; the ears on the outside, particularly at their 

 base, the sides of the muzzle and the end of the tail, 

 which is destitute of a tuft, black. Length from 

 nose to root of tail, about four feet ; of the tail, up- 

 wards of two feet. The young are marked with 

 three chains of blackish-brown streaks along the 

 back, and the sides, shoulders, and neck have 

 clouded spots of the same colour. As the animal 

 advances in age, these mai-kings fade, and ultimately 

 disappear. 



The puma is extensively spread throughout North 

 and South America ; but it is not only more scaice 

 than ibrnu'i'ly, but its range is more ccnitracted; 

 and, as civilization advances, will be still further re 

 duccd. This beautiful animal is savage and fero-- 

 cious, but eiisily tamed, and soon becomes very fa- 

 miliar. The late Mr. Edmund Kean had one in hi? 

 possession, which was perfectly domesticated ; and 



