From Fox's Earth 



cats. I have seen no less than thirty naturalized 

 wild cats, trapped in a year on a single preserve ; 

 some of them might have been mistaken for the 

 true breed. They were, in fact, a cross between 

 the wild and the tame cat." 



Six wild cats seen all over Scotland, in a life- 

 time, against thirty crosses in a single forest in 

 one year! What chance that the wild cat sur- 

 vives. To which group are those said to be 

 abroad in Knoydart and other woods likely to 

 belong ? 



Since the days of such scant gleanings, fifty 

 years have done their utmost to make a clean 

 sweep. It is no fault of the persecutors that any 

 have escaped through the hairs of the brush. 

 Nor is there any very general abatement in this 

 relentless work. The whimsical forbearance of 

 some individual proprietor, whose authority ends 

 with his fence, is interesting rather than important. 

 Impotent then, it is no more potent now. Whim 

 and generosity, charming as they may be, are 

 not lasting, and, while they last, are very much 

 on the surface. They are not exactly what is 

 wanted. 



I hold no brief for these two creatures nor 

 plead for special treatment. The wild life of the 

 land must stand or fall together. Other mammals 

 only second, if at all inferior, in their natural 

 claims have suffered. Trap and gun have been 

 busy on them also. If they are not nearer the 



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