202 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



with the above remarks respecting; its impatience of 

 cold. Linnaeus and Buffbn seem to have been 

 among the first to confound these two species, though 

 the latter was aware of the remarkable difference in 

 the length of their intestines, those of the wild cat 

 being only thrice the length of the body, proving it 

 to be purely carnivorous, while those of the do- 

 mestic cat are much longer, being nine times the 

 length of the body, proving it to be able to subsist 

 on a portion of vegetable food ; and accordingly we 

 find that our cats are very fond of boiled greens, 

 &c. which it is probable no wild cat would touch. 

 That these changes are not caused by domestication 

 is proved by no such difference appearing in the 

 intestines of the- wild boar and the pig, and by 

 domestic animals being always increased rather than 

 diminished in size, when compared with their known 

 wild originals. To enter more minutely into this, 

 however, would lead us too far from our immediate 

 subject ; but it may be worth mentioning that the 

 domestic cat is only of recent introduction in the 

 higher northern latitudes, as in Sweden* and 

 Norway f, while it is not yet introduced into Lap- 

 land J. 



The demoiselle heron (Anthropoides Virgo, 

 VIEILLOT), which Buffon had from the coast of 

 Guinea, took similar care of its comfort to the cats 

 above mentioned, for he tells us " it had chosen for 

 itself a room with a fire to shelter it during the night, 

 and in winter (1778) it repaired every evening 

 to the door sounding for admission." A similar 

 anecdote is related by M. Antoine of a lapwing 



writing this, seen Ruppel's specimens at Frankfort, and cannot 

 agree with Temminck. J. R. 



* Linnaeus, Fauna Suecica. 



t Pontoppidan, Nat. Hist. Norvv. ii. 18. 



I Zimmerman, Spec, Zool, Geograph. p. 172. 



