1 32 THE INDIAN FAUNA 



flour or chopped straw to make the colour of the leopard show up better. These 

 methods are, however, a little unsportsman-like. Leopards are much oftener 

 caught in traps than tigers, and many are killed by means of cage-traps, in each 

 of which a live animal is placed in a separate compartment so arranged as to open 

 and leave it free to escape as another door closes behind on the leopard. 



One of the most remarkable of the Indian cats, on account of its 



haunts and habits, is the fishing-cat (F. viverrina), which is of civet- 

 like slenderness of shape, and has a length of from 30 to 32 inches, exclusive of the 

 tail, which measures from 9 to 12 inches. In colour it is earthy brownish grey, rather 

 lighter below, marked all over with black or dark brown, oblong spots, arranged in 

 more or less distinct rows. It inhabits swampy jungle near the banks of rivers, 

 creeks, and bays, and is distinguished from most other cats by eating fish, fresh- 

 water molluscs, and snakes. It probably, however, also consumes the flesh of 

 birds and mammals, as cases have been known in which it has killed calves, 

 sheep, and dogs, and even carried off infants from the huts of their parents. 



The fishing-cat is found in Bengal, in the valley of the Indus, on the Malabar 

 coast, and in Ceylon. At the foot of the Himalaya it ranges as far as Nepal to 

 the west ; eastwards it inhabits Burma, Tenasserim, and southern China. It does 

 not apparently exist in the Malay Isles but is said to occur in Formosa. 



The prettily marked leopard-cat (F. bengalensis), which has its 



home in the forest, where it lives on birds and small mammals, is of 

 a reddish, or light grey colour, with white lower-parts. It is marked all over with 

 more or less oblong black or brownish spots, arranged in rows along the body ; the 

 head being striped, and the tail ringed. Its length is from 24 to 26 inches, 

 exclusive of the tail, which makes it half as long again. It lives in the holes of 

 trees, stealing domesticated fowls, and preying on birds generally. The leopard-cat, 

 in many varieties, is found all over India from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin ; but 

 is absent from Ceylon, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula, although present in the 

 Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, Formosa, and China up to Amurland. 

 Rusty-Spotted The small rusty-spotted cat (F. rubiginosa) inhabits grass-grown, 



cat. dried-up tanks in southern India and Ceylon, but is rare in the 



northern parts of central India. It sometimes chooses drains in fields adjoining 

 villages for its residence, and apparently never lives in the jungles. It is some 

 27 inches long, including the tail. In colour it is reddish grey or rusty red, with 

 the lower-parts white, and the head and neck marked with rusty coloured or dark 

 brown stripes, and the body with oblong spots of the same colour arranged in rows. 

 The desert-cat (F. ornata) is an inhabitant of sandy plains and 



hills m the dry north-western districts of India, where it probably 

 lives principally on gerbils. In size it is about the same as a domesticated cat, and 

 is of a light sandy colour, marked with numerous small spots, arranged in more or 

 less distinct longitudinal rows. This cat, which is remarkable for not leading an 

 exclusively nocturnal life, is said to interbreed with domesticated cats to such an 

 extent that most of the latter in the districts it inhabits are similarly coloured. 



The waved cat (F. torquata) is widely spread over northern 



India, although nowhere common. It has been found in Kashmir, 

 Nepal, Rajputana, and elsewhere, and is noteworthy as being possibly the ancestor 



