no THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



Another animal most destructive to game is the cat. 

 The wild cat is now so rare that it is almost superfluous 

 to refer to it as an enemy of game. Still, on one 

 estate a few years ago about a dozen wild cats were 

 trapped. As they were sent on to me, I had them stuffed 

 and exhibited at a meeting of the Field Naturalists' 

 Society in Edinburgh, when I read a paper on Wild 

 Cats to the members. This paper found its way into 

 the newspapers, and endless discussion ensued, when it 

 was asserted by no mean authority that the genuine 

 wild cat was long since extinct, having crossed with the 

 domestic cat, and was not now the original Felis catus 

 of Scotland. Sir Herbert Maxwell, in his Memories of 

 the Months, states, however, that he had some specimens 

 sent from Argyllshire to Dr. Oldfield Thomas, of the 

 British Museum, who pronounced them indistinguish- 

 able from the pure Felis catus. As cats have not the 

 sagacity and cunning of foxes, they are easily trapped, 

 and quickly fall a victim to the gamekeeper. The same 

 remark applies to the domestic cat : having no suspicion, 

 it is easily trapped. The destruction of cats by game- 

 keepers is a continual source of discord between him and 

 his neighbours. Once they begin to hunt for game, 

 their presence cannot be tolerated, and it is desirable 

 that they be kept down. Great judiciousness, however, 

 should be exercised by the gamekeeper, and when a 

 domestic cat is trapped it ought quickly to be put out 

 of sight and its fate kept secret. 



The stoat or ermine weasel is a species of vermin 



