CARACAL. 435 
the Himalaya, and also occurs in Ceylon and Burma, yet it has a wide range to the 
westward, being common in Persia, and thence extending through Syria to North 
Africa. Occasionally black specimens of this cat are met with in India. 
The jungle-cat, although, from its nocturnal habits, rarely seen, is described by 
the late Dr. Jerdon as frequenting “alike jungles and the open country, and is very 
partial to long grass and reeds, sugar-cane fields, corn-fields, ete. It does much 
damage to game of all kinds,—hares, partridges, ete.—and once I shot a pea-fowl 
at the edge of a sugar-cane field, when one of these cats sprang out, seized the 
pea-fowl, and, after a short struggle (for the bird was not dead), carried it off before 
my astonished eyes, and, in spite of my running up, made good his escape with his 
booty.” It is said to be very destructive at times to poultry. The present writer 
once came suddenly upon the jungle-cat in the outer Himalaya on the edge of a 
recently-cut field of maize, which, after starimg in astonishment for a few seconds, 
quietly made its way into cover. 
In disposition the jungle-cat is described as being very savage; and, even 
when caught young, is generally untamable. It is said to breed twice a year (like 
the European wild cat), and to produce three or four kittens at a birth, which, 
when captured, are very difficult to rear. The late Sir O. B. St. John, as quoted 
by Mr. Blanford, when writing of his Persian experiences, states that among the 
mountains of the South he found three kittens of this species so young as to be 
unable to drink milk. “I reared them,” continues this observer, “with some 
difficulty, till about three months old, by which time they became very tame and 
playful, climbing up on to my knees when at breakfast, and behaving very much 
like ordinary domestic kittens. Unfortunately one was killed by a greyhound, and 
another by a scorpion, within a few days, on which the survivor became morose, 
and refused to be comforted, even by the society of a kitten of his own age, which 
I procured as a companion to him. When I left Persia, in 1867, he was a year old, 
and very large and powerful. Two English bull-terriers I had, who made short 
work of the largest domestic cat, could do nothing with my wild cat. In their 
almost daily battles the dogs always got the worst of it.” 
THE CARACAL (Felis caracal). 
The foxy-coloured cat known as the caracal is a species of larger size 
than the jungle-cat, though smaller than the true lynx, and agrees with the 
latter in its long limbs, pencilled ears, and the characters of its teeth; but in 
its longer tail, absence of a ruff round the throat, and less close and thick fur, 
it resembles the jungle-cat. The transition from the typical cats to the lynxes is, 
therefore, complete. 
The caracal, in addition to its relatively long limbs, is characterised by its 
slender build, by the length of the tail being equal to one-third of that of the hind 
leg and body, and by the long tufts of black hair surmounting the long ears. From 
the latter feature the animal is known to the Persians by the name of Siyah-gush ; 
siyah signifying black, and gush ears. The skull is characterised by the elevation 
of the crown, and the shortness of the face; while there are but two premolar teeth 
in the upper jaw, and the flesh-tooth of the lower jaw is distinguished by the 
