60 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



and has much analogy with that of the Lynx and of our own Domestic Cat. It climbs well, and 

 mounts trees, either as a resting-place, or to escape from an enemy when there is no hole m which it 

 can hide. Under this circumstance it plays 'possum' to the best of its ability, keeping close to a, 

 larcre branch, the colour of which, harmonising with that of its skin, contributes to conceal it from view. 

 It does not commence its hunting operations until night has set in ; and, in surprising the bird in its 

 nest the sitting Hare, the Rabbit in its burrow, and even the Squirrel on its tree, it displays a cunning 

 unsurpassed by any of its tribe. When the quarry is a small animal, it leaps on its back and severs, 

 its carotids with its sharp teeth. It never pursues an animal which it has failed to reach at the first 

 onslaught, but prefers to go in search of new prey ; in a word, it has all the characters of a true Cat. 



EGYPTIAN CAT. 



Happily for hunters, its principal nutriment consists of Mice and small birds. It is only by accident 

 that it seeks for larger animals ; it is, however, certain that it sometimes attacks Fawns or small Roes. 

 It keeps watch by the banks of lakes and streams for fish and birds, both of which it knows full well 

 how to seize. It is extremely destructive in parks, and, above all, in covers, which it utterly depopu- 

 lates in a very short time. Considering its size, the Wild Cat is a very dangerous Carnivore, ita 

 sanguinary nature inciting it to kill far more animals than it can possibly eat. For this reason all 

 hunters detest it, and pursue it with perfect hatred. But no one seems to remember the services it 

 renders to man in destroying small Rodents, and yet these services are undoubted. Tschudi relates that 

 the remains of twenty-six Mice have been found in the stomach of a single individual of this species."* 

 This interesting account shows how little difference there is between the habits and the nature of 

 this little wild beast of Great Britain and its big cousins of the African and Indian jungles. In its 

 nocturnal habits, its mode of attack, its bloodthirstiness, and its wanton cruelty, it is just the Tiger 

 over again on a small scale, only less harmful because less powerful. Some idea of its immense 

 strength may be gathered from the fact that it is known to have actually killed meru 



* Brehm. 



