SEPTEMBER 237 



native catamountain, showing that the admixture of 

 Felis domestica, if it ever existed in this race, has been 

 bred out, and a complete reversion effected to the feral 

 type. 



Well, on leaving Knoydart I straitly charged the 

 head stalker to let me hear of the first wild cat he 

 should get. These animals are not trapped in the 

 forest, which in Knoydart approaches more nearly to 

 the southron's apprehension of that term than it does 

 when used to express the ordinary deer ground of the 

 Highlands; for Knoydart contains many leagues of 

 shaggy hillside clad with birch, Scots pine, and other 

 trees. It is only when a cat descends to the plantations 

 near the lodge, or is taken in a trap set for otters, that 

 a capture is effected. It was vastly agreeable to receive 

 one night lately a telegram from my friend the stalker : 

 ' Wild cat secured : please forward instructions,' and 

 soon the reply was flashing back that it was to be sent 

 to the Director of the Natural History Department of 

 the British Museum. It is true that I was not without 

 some qualms. Was the beast alive or dead ? If alive, 

 would he prove a welcome morning visitor in South 

 Kensington ? However, all turned out right ; the poor 

 catamountain would never scrunch the neck of another 

 blue hare, seeing that its own skull proved to have been 

 irretrievably smashed. This was unfortunate, because 

 the bones of the head are important for the right 

 identification of species ; but doubtless it is a difficult 

 matter to deal delicately with a tiger even a British 

 tiger in a trap. I have received Dr. Oldfield Thomas's 



