THE WILD CAT. 345 



jaws close in the death-grip, into some corridor of 

 the rocks where it can feast in security. It is not 

 the way of the cat tribe to slay their game in the 

 open and to feast under the rays of the sun or the 

 moon, as the case may be. They prefer always 

 the shadowy alley-ways where, by back-handed 

 methods, they can avoid such inconveniences as 

 are apt to arise as the result of dishonesty. If 

 its prey is too large to carry, then the wild cat 

 crouches upon it, trusting to its own terribleness 

 of aspect to repel the would-be avenger of the 

 murdered innocent ; and of one thing we can be 

 sure, that never, within the normal order of things, 

 does a wild cat face in mortal combat a creature 

 which it knows to be half so well equipped a 

 fighting-machine as itself. 



MATING. 



So far as I can ascertain, the wild cat is mono- 

 gamous. Where a member of one sex exists there 

 is usually a member of the other. The father, 

 however, has nothing whatever to do with the up- 

 bringing of his children. Probably he does not see 

 them till they are three parts grown, when he may 

 cuff them out of his way if he happens to meet 

 them. It is merely that he dallies in the locality 

 favoured by his wife in case he may be needed. 

 Cats do not hunt together except in countries of 

 extreme cold where the alternatives are unity and 

 starvation or disunity and death. The days of the 

 packing of the wild cats are long since past. 



BREEDING. 



Only one litter is produced per year under normal 

 conditions ; sometimes, but seldom, a second litter 

 appears in August. The number of kits per litter 



