272 V E It T E B R A T A , 



THE WILD-CAT. 



lierc ; all our domestic cats, as well as the wild ones occasionally found in the woods, are the 

 descendants of those brought hither by the Europeans. 



The wild-cats of the European continent are either the descendants of the original races that 

 have continued untamed from the beginning, or of domesticated cats that have wandered from 

 their homes, and, living apart from man, have relapsed into barbarism. It is said that the wild 

 and tame cats, in their wanderings, sometimes meet; when this is the case, the females of the 

 tame breed are well treated by the savage cats, but the males are rudely set upon and sometimes 

 torn in pieces. The wild and tame eats sometimes breed together, and produce the kind called 

 Tiger-Cats. Some authors hold that the wild-cat is a distinct species, because its tail is shorter 

 and more bushy than that of the domestic cat; but this opinion seems not well founded, for still 

 greater differences are found in dogs which are acknowledged to be of the same race. 



The wild-cat is rather larger and more robust than the tame breed ; the head is triangular, 

 and has a savage aspect, especially when the animal is irritated; the fur is long, soft, and thick; 

 the back, sides, and limbs are gray, darker on the back and paler below, with a blackish longi- 

 tudinal stripe along the middle of the back, and numerous paler curved ones on the sides. The 

 tail is simulated with light gray and black, the tip of the latter color. As is the case with some 

 other animals — the ox, dog, and horse, for instance — so it is with the cats. The wild ones are 

 nearly all of the same hue, while the domestic ones, as we have already stated, are white, black, 

 gray, and vellow, and of various mingled shades and colors. 



The wild-eat is a very shy animal, chiefly nocturnal in its habits. It lurks in woods and 

 thickets, and preys on hares, squirrels, and birds of various kinds. Some four or five hundred 

 years ago it was common in England, and was a beast of chase like the fox and the hare; it i^ 

 now nearly extirpated. It is common in France, Germany, Russia, Hungary, and some other 

 parts of Europe. 



There is a variety of this animal which we must not omit to mention : this is the Egypti >■> 

 Cat, /•'. maniculata. It i< found in a wild state in Xubia, and is said to be somewhat smaller than 

 the European wild-eat; the ground fur or hair is of a brownish yellow, dark above and pale 

 below. The tail is slender, with two dark rings at its point. This is conjectured to be a distinct 

 species, and of that kind domestieatcd in Egypt, and traced on the monuments and found in the 

 cat-mumniie>. We see no necessity of adopting this opinion. It may be, indeed, a descendant ot 

 this breed, for there seems to be no animal that so soon loses its cultivation, and returns to a 

 wild state. A trifling neglect of proper feeding or attention will often cause them to depend 

 upon their own resources; and the tasting of some wild ami living food will tempt them to seek 

 it again, and to leave their civilized home. They then prowl about in the same manner as their 



