STILL EXISTS IN SCOTLAND 19 



verge. It was even maintained by some and 

 may possibly even yet be held that the wild 

 cat as a pure and unmixed species had already 

 ceased to exist ; that those still here and there 

 to be found were no longer the legitimate 

 descendants of the original indigenous species, 

 but were only mongrels ; the pure strain having 

 been already lost by admixture with the straying 

 domestic cat. To-day, however, those best 

 informed maintain that absolutely pure-bred 

 and undoubted descendants of our original 

 wild cat still exist in Scotland, and that, too, 

 in increasing numbers. 



The wild cat was widely distributed over 

 the middle and southern districts of Europe, 

 although nowadays in many parts exterminated 

 by the advance of population and agriculture, 

 and therefore restricted to-day to the wilder 

 and less accessible regions ; and is, as already 

 stated, with one exception, the sole represen- 

 tative of the cats proper native to this 

 Continent. Beyond our own country it is to 

 be found, if in ever-diminishing numbers, in 

 France and Germany, Poland and Russia, 

 throughout Southern Europe and Turkey to 

 the Caucasus ; but, it is believed, not to the 

 east of the Urals. Singularly enough, it is 

 quite unknown in Scandinavia ; and -this is 



