ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 5 



their life habits. And psychologically, too, 

 there is quite as much uniformity j all cats 

 are carnivorous, preferring to discover and kill 

 their own prey; all are ferocious and sangui- 

 nary 5 loving retirement ; moving with conceal- 

 ment and stealth ; never affronting danger, but 

 fighting desperately when injured or when 

 escape is no longer possible. All climb with 

 ease, excepting only the tiger and lion, whose 

 bulk has probably deterred them from acquir- 

 ing the habit. So persistent are the characters 

 both of body and mind in this family, that in 

 spite of thirty -five centuries or more of domes- 

 tication, the household tabby to-day preserves 

 far more of its ancestral traits than any other 

 of the four-footed associates of man. 



Cats are found all over the world, except in 

 the Australian region, Madagascar, and the 

 West Indies. They are mainly tropical and 

 heat-loving, although a few species range far 

 to the north, as the tiger in Asia and the puma 

 in America. The short- tailed lynxes also pre- 

 dominate in northern regions. 



The}' are naturally a well-marked group, and 

 for the present purpose may be regarded as 

 2 



