:; ;s NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Varieties Cnrnr.t!> n-id in hunting. 



JJarbary ; and the ears are black, interspersed 

 with a few hairs of a shining whiteness. 



The common caracal is about the size of a fox, 

 or sirmewhat taller, but exceedingly fierce and 

 strong. It has been known to attack the largest 

 dog, which it has defeated in a few minutes, and 

 literally torn in pieces. 



Being much inferior in size and strength to 

 many other carnivorous animals, it cannot so 



J 



easily procure living prey ; but, in order to ob- 

 viate this difficulty,- nature seems to have taught 

 it to follow at a distance the lion, and other pow- 

 erful creatures, to-satisfy itself with the fragments 

 of their banquets. 



It is curious to remark, that the caracal always 

 keeps at a distance from the panther, because 

 that savage animal does not relax in cruelty of 

 disposition, even after it is satisfied with food, 

 but rushes on every living creature which makes 

 its appearance. 



The caracal is sometimes used in the same 

 manner as the- ounce for hunting: and it seems 

 to have a property which the other has not, viz. 

 that ohbeing able to overtake its prey by pursu- 

 ing it. Whether this be the result of a finer 

 scent, or greater swiftness than is possessed by 

 the ounce, does not seem to have been fully 

 ascertained; naturalists having merely told us, 

 that when ihe animal overtakes the gazelle or 

 antelope, it leaps upon their back, and, get- 

 ting forward to their shoulders, scratches oirt 



