SMALLER CATS 63 



He was very quick with snakes, and 1 have often seen 

 him consuming the remains of a night adder and such 

 smaller species in the early morning. Retribution 

 eventually befell him, however, in the jaws of a large 

 python. 



On moonlight nights, or at dusk, these wild cats may 

 often be seen hanging about in the near vicinity of human 

 dwellings, and, while staying at Gondokoro, I put up 

 one just after sunrise, in the compound behind the dak 

 bungalow and well within the outskirts of the village. 



THE JUNGLE CAT. The jungle cat ranges from north- 

 east Africa into Asia. It is about the size of the pre- 

 ceding species, and is of a uniform fawny colour with a 

 very short tail. 



The backs of the ears are rufous, and the limbs and 

 tail have dusky bands, the latter with a black tip. 



THE CARACAL. The caracal is much the most powerful 

 of the smaller cats of Africa, and, in its long limbs, 

 pencilled ears, and the shape of its teeth, is very much 

 like the true lynxes of the northern hemisphere. In 

 colour it is uniformly grizzled yellowish red, lighter below. 

 The ears are pointed and bear at their ends long pencilled 

 tufts of black hairs. There are traces of rufous spotting 

 on the underparts, strongly in evidence in quite young 

 animals, but tending to disappear with age. The height 

 at the shoulder is about eighteen inches, and length of 

 body about two and a half feet tail about ten inches ; 

 but the caracal is a heavily built animal for its size ; the 

 limbs are massive and powerful, and it far exceeds in 

 strength and capacity for destruction the taller and 

 longer, but more lightly built, serval. 



Its range comprises the whole continent of Africa 

 wherever the surroundings are suitable. 



The caracal may be encountered equally in fairly open, 



