THE WILD CAT. 



RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TAME SPECIES. 



THE true wild cat is now an exceedingly rare 

 animal, existing only occasionally in the 

 most remote Highlands, such as Lochaber and the 

 wilds of Sutherland. Periodically reports appear 

 in the daily press of wild cats having been killed 

 in various parts of Scotland, or even Cumberland ; 

 but one needs to accept such statements with 

 caution. The most observant and experienced 

 gamekeeper is apt to be misled into the making of 

 a false report ; indeed, it is no uncommon thing to 

 find stuffed specimens alleged to be wild cats set 

 up for exhibition in public collections specimens of 

 cats which, though truly wild in one sense of the 

 word, have nevertheless sprung direct from fireside 

 ancestors. 



If interbreeding has occurred, the task of identi- 

 fying the animal is indeed a difficult one. For years 

 past the true wild cat has been very rare, while the 

 wild domestic cat has been proportionately common, 

 with the result that it would not be impossible to 

 obtain a graduated collection beginning with the 

 domestic cat, and ranging over the various stages 

 of the wild domestic cat to the half-breed wild 

 cat, and so on to the full-blooded Felis catus. It 

 would require some skill in the case of such a 

 collection to draw a distinct line separating the 

 two species ; in fact, I would go so far as to say 

 that probably no such thing exists to-day as a 

 wild cat in whose ancestry no trace of the domestic 

 species has entered. 



W.A. V 



