422 CARNIVORES. 



disagrees with Riippel's in its more robust form and stouter legs." Professor 

 Mivart speaks of the cat represented in the same painting as a " tabby cat," and 

 would appear to regard it as belonging to a domesticated species or variety. The 

 evidence of the mummified cats, which are indistinguishable from the wild caffre 

 cat, points, however, strongly to the correctness of Professor Virchow's conclusion 

 that the ordinary tamed cat of the ancient Egyptians belonged to that species. 

 Still, however, it is quite probable that certain variations from the original type 

 may in some instances have been produced by breeding in a domesticated state. 



THE WILD CAT (Felis caius). 



The wild cat is the only native representative of the family found within the 

 British Islands, where it is almost daily becoming scarcer. 



In general colour this species is not unlike many of our domestic " tabbies," 

 from which it is distinguished, not only by its superior size and strength, but also 

 by its stouter head, and the much shorter and thicker tail, which, instead of 

 tapering, preserves a nearly uniform thickness to the tip. The ground-colour of 

 the body is yellow-grey ; the markings taking the form of a dark streak along the 

 middle of the back, from which descend more or less nearly vertical stripes of the 

 same hue, these stripes becoming nearly horizontal on the limbs, while the tail is 

 ornamented with similar dark rings, and terminates in a black tip. The "whiskers" 

 are more voluminous than in domestic cats ; and in the male sex the soles of all 

 the feet are black. The length of the tail is rather less than one-half that of the 

 head and body. The male is considerably larger than the female, but shows a 

 great amount of individual variation in its dimensions. According to the authors of 

 Bell's British Quadrupeds the total average length of the males is about 2 feet 

 9 inches, of which 11 inches is taken up by the tail; but an unusually large 

 specimen killed near Cawdor Castle had a length of 3 feet 9 inches from the nose 

 to the tip of the tail. 



The wild cat was formerly distributed over the forest-clad districts of the 

 larger part of Great Britain, but, as we shall show later on, was never known in 

 Ireland. It is widely distributed, in suitable localities over the Continent, occurring 

 in France rarely, Germany commonly, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Southern 

 Russia, Spain, Dalmatia, Greece, and parts of Turkey ; but it is unknown in Italy, 

 Norway, Sweden, and Northern Russia. The specimens from the more northern 

 parts of its range are said to be larger, with longer and thicker fur, than those 

 from its southern habitats. Eastwards it has been recorded from the shores of the 

 Caspian ; and a large cat with a short tail killed by the late Sir O. B. St. John 

 in Persia was referred by its captor to this species. The skin was, however, 

 unfortunately lost, so that the determination cannot be regarded as absolutely 

 C3rtain. 



The wild cat has been an inhabitant of Great Britain since the age of the 

 mammoth; its fossil remains having been obtained (both there and on the 

 Continent) in caverns containing the bones and teeth of the mammoth and other 

 extinct Mammals of the Pleistocene age. It has, however, now completely disappeared 

 from the greater part of England, only remaining in the mountainous districts of 



