From Fox's Earth 



horizon to make sure of his facts, and keep to 

 one side in case the other should contradict him. 

 He may know the points of a wild cat without 

 being familiar with the conditions of wild life in 

 Scotland, by much the more important factor. 

 Had the Sutherlandshire cat been sent he would 

 have called it a wild cat, if only it had been 

 concealed that it came out of a keeper's lodge. 

 No one, not even he of South Kensington, will 

 assert that a cross may not have its father's head 

 as well as its father's tail. The reason why tail 

 and head alike were in northern croft and lodge 

 is just this curious juxtaposition of allied species. 

 If now they are found in the wilds, it is because 

 the persecution has given a predominance to the 

 domestic strain, which has not been persecuted. 

 In this is nothing strange when we know all the 

 facts. 



It may be assumed that these six Knoydart 

 skins were not of tame cats, and it is fairly 

 certain that the two skulls tell of a wild ancestry. 

 The point at issue is whether the wearers, when 

 in life, were more likely to be true or crosses. 

 One of the unhappy outcomes of the persecution 

 is, that the most liberal of landlords has not the 

 satisfaction of knowing what he is harbouring. 



A timorous correspondent fears that to throw 

 doubt on the genuineness is to lessen the interest, 

 and so endanger those that are left. No good 

 ever came of feigning blindness to facts, nor cure 



4 6 



