QO Anecdotal Natural History, 



classes, this animal was even preserved for the chase, 

 just as is the fox at the present time, and severe penal- 

 ties were enacted against those who should cause its 

 destruction, except in the legitimate manner. 



At the present day, the Wild Cat is almost extinct, 

 as far as regards Great Britain, a few scattered speci- 

 mens, only, existing in some of the Scottish mountain 

 woods. There it causes considerable havoc amongst 

 the game, just as our domestic cat will if it once im- 

 bibes a taste for poaching. In fact, there is hardly 

 a more inveterate enemy to partridges and pheasants 

 than a pet cat, which will visit the coverts night after 

 night, and destroy the birds in numbers, often paying 

 the penalty with her own life should the keeper happen 

 to meet with her. Many tame cats, even, leave their 

 homes, and take entirely to a wild life, living on the 

 game which they capture. When trapped, these are 

 often mistaken by the keepers for the genuine wild 

 species. It is hardly possible to pass through a 

 preserve without noticing the dead bodies of several 

 cats, which have been shot by the gamekeepers, and 

 hung up on the ' keepers' trees ' in company with the 

 carcases of weasels, stoats, etc., as a warning to other 

 ' vermin.' 



The differences between the wild and the domestic 

 cats are very apparent. The markings of the former 

 vary but very little, the ground colour being an 

 uniform yellowish grey, while a number of dark streaks 

 run round the body at right angles to the line of the 

 body and limbs, reminding one rather strongly of the 

 markings of the tiger. A chain of black spots 

 runs down the spine as far as the tail, which is very 

 much shorter and more bushy in proportion than that 

 of the domestic species. The tip, for an inch or so, is 

 invariably black, the rest being banded in the same 

 way as the body. The ears, too, are much shorter 



