236 CREATURES OF PREY 



ferret by gamekeepers; the wild type is the brindled 

 kind. 



As for wild cats, I examined the skins of six which 

 were taken during last winter (1897-98). They were all 

 of young animals, nearly full grown, kittled in a wood 

 not far from the lodge, but could scarcely be mistaken for 

 domestic cats gone wild. The short, dense tail, closely 

 ringed with black, and the beautifully ' tabby ' fur, 

 warmed with russet inside the flanks, combined with 

 the great size of the skins, seemed to indicate that they 

 belonged to the true Felis catus, and that if any cross 

 had taken place with Felis domestica (itself only a 

 mongrel descendant of the wild cat), the foreign strain 

 had been completely worked out, and reversion to the 

 original type completed. Unluckily, these fine skins 

 were swarming with moths, and were utterly ruined. 

 Moreover, the heads unluckily had been removed from 

 these six skins ; and as none of the bones had been 

 preserved, all that it was possible to affirm upon the 

 evidence was the probability that in this remote wilder- 

 ness, extending from Morar to Loch Hourn, the true 

 wild cat was still to be found. It is well known to 

 British naturalists that Dr. Edward Hamilton has 

 entered very closely into the evidence bearing on the 

 survival of this beast of prey in our islands, and has 

 expressed an opinion that none remain unadulterated 

 with greater or lesser strain of the domestic cat. On 

 the other hand, it is equally well known that cats 

 exist in certain parts of the Highlands, exhibiting 

 all the signs in size, colour, and shape or tail of our 



