II. 

 THE WILD CAT. 



THE Felidae, or Cats proper, comprise the 

 most numerous group of the family of Carni- 

 vora, and are to be found well-nigh all over the 

 world excepting the Arctic regions and Austral- 

 asia ; but in Europe we have, with a solitary 

 exception, only one indigenous species, the 

 Wild Cat, formerly designated Felis catus, but 

 according to the latest authorities better 

 described scientifically as F. sylvestris\ the 

 Scottish having been recently further distin- 

 guished from the Continental form as F. 

 sylvestris grampia. Only in Sardinia is an 

 exception to be found, where a local representa- 

 tive of the Egyptian cat occurs, described as 

 F. ocreata sarda. Singularly enough, the wild 

 cat has never been found in Ireland. 



This is, perhaps, the most interesting of the 

 remaining feral inhabitants of our Scottish 

 Highlands, to which it is to-day restricted, 

 although at one time doubtless to be found 



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