To Mountain Tarn 



wild type unless the wild strain is already 

 present? Assuming it would thrive, wholly un- 

 detached from a house, the tame cat might at 

 a very long interval, and by a process of selec- 

 tion, acquire a thicker fur and a certain protec- 

 tive shading. That is not reversion. 



Crossing is a much shorter process. A keen 

 observer says that the tame cats most given to 

 wandering are those which resemble the wild 

 ones in colour. A very different thing from 

 going forth and straightway changing the hue. 

 And may hint at some of the strange weaving, 

 in the web and woof of wild and tame. Not 

 unlikely the roving house-cat owes to an older 

 rover the colour which it is now taking back to 

 the domain of one of its ancestors. 



The following winter Knoydart produced a 

 brace of heads. On the evidence of certain 

 bones of the skull, an expert in South Kensing- 

 ton pronounced the bearer, when in life, as indis- 

 tinguishable from pure Felis catus. The opinion 

 is hasty though, doubtless, orthodox. The im- 

 mense house -cat, seen by St. John, showed 

 certain peculiarities of its wild father's race, not 

 only in the shortness and roughness of the tail, 

 but also in the size and shape of the head in 

 other words, the bones of the skull. 



The expert, therefore, might be quite right 

 and at the same time quite wrong, orthodox 

 without being true. An expert may narrow his 



45 



