SMALLER CATS. 



423 



the north, its extermination from many of its former haunts being probably due 

 not so much to the destruction of the forests, as to the increasing use of fire-arms. 

 In parts of North Wales it appears to still linger on, a specimen having been 

 captured recently in that district, but there is considerable doubt as to whether 

 it continues to breed in the principality. In Scotland, although its distribution is 

 now greatly restricted, the wild cat is not very uncommon in the more secluded 

 localities. 



Domestic cats that have escaped and taken to the woods are frequently 

 mistaken for the wild cat ; and it is owing to such errors in identification that, 

 according to Dr. E. Hamilton, the supposed occurrence of the species in Ireland 

 has been asserted: 



Wild cats are expert climbers ; and their favourite places of resort are the most 

 inaccessible mountainous woods, where they retreat not only to hollow trees, or 

 deep thickets, but to concealed fissures of rocks, in which they seek their safety 

 and repose, and bring forth and rear their young. The female usually produces 

 from four to five kittens in a litter ; and instances are on record where these have 

 been brought forth in the deserted or captured nests of some of the larger birds. 



The fierceness and savage disposition of the wild cat, or " cat-a-mount," as it 

 was often called by the older writers, is proverbial, and displays itself even in the 

 kittens, which will hiss and spit vigorously at all intruders on their lair. Several 

 instances are related where wild cats have even attacked human beings. The 

 destruction which they inflict on grouse, ptarmigan, rabbits, hares, fawns, and 

 lambs, renders them detested alike by gamekeepers and shepherds, and has thus 

 largely contributed to their reduced numbers in those parts of Britain where the 

 species still survives. From the shortness and bushiness of its tail, there is good 

 reason to believe that the wild cat is not the parent stock of our domestic cats. 

 Still, however, there are undoubted instances where crossing has taken place 

 between the two, such interbreeding having been frequently authenticated. On 

 this point Jardine observes that " in the north of Scotland there has been occasional 

 crossing with our native species, and the result of these crosses has been kept in 

 our houses. I have seen many cats closely resembling the wild cat, and one or two 

 that could scarcely be distinguished from it." Commenting on this statement, 

 Blyth remarks that " such cats are never seen in the southern parts of England ; 

 still, as compared with any Indian tame cat, the affinity of the ordinary British cat 

 to F. cat us is manifest, and is due, I suspect, to frequent intermixture at a time 

 when the tame cat was first introduced into Britain, and continued rare, while the 

 wild species was far more abundant than at present." 



PALLAS'S CAT (Felis manul). 



Apparently nearly allied to the European wild cat is a handsomely -coloured 

 species from the Siberian steppes, the Mongolian deserts, and the highlands of Tibet, 

 known as the manul cat, or Pallas's cat. It is about the size of the ordinary 

 domestic cat, with very long, thick, and soft fur, and a thick bushy tail, of about 

 half the length of the head and body. The head is remarkably broad, and the eyes 

 are directed more forward than in any other species. 



