THE WILD CAT. 253 



lambs fallen victims to the wild cat, but even man 

 himself has occasionally been vanquished in a 

 personal encounter with ' the British tiger.' 

 There is an instance on record of a shepherd 

 having been mortally wounded in Scotland, and 

 several of severe injuries having been received 

 from imprudently coming into close quarters with 

 this formidable quadruped. Although compara- 

 tively rare in Ireland, the species still exists 

 among some of the mountains of Connaught. 

 Mr. Maxwell, in his usual felicitous manner, re- 

 lates an anecdote characteristic of its truculent 

 propensities, the scene of which was in that re- 

 mote district.* 



House cats are frequently known to run wild ; 

 and although there is an obvious tendency in 

 these animals, when they have taken to the woods, 

 to assume the grey, or tabby, colour after the 

 second or third generation, yet they must not be 

 confounded under any circumstances with the 

 real wild cat. The two species are manifestly 

 distinct. Besides the superior size of the latter ; 

 the comparative smallness of the head and the 

 far greater development and different form of the 

 tail are well marked characters, which are suffi- 

 cient to upset the once favourite theory ih&tfelis 



* ' Wild Sports of the West/ vol. ii. p. 107. 



