623 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— LEOPARD CAT {F. BENGALENSIS) IN CAPTIVITY. 

 (With a block.) 



^^Felis Chaus" and " i^e/'/s Bcngahnsis " being proverbially wild and untame- 

 able, the following account of a "Felis Bengalensis " kitten having been 

 tamed may be of interest to some Members of the B. N. H. S. 



She was caught by a coolie, who said that a second kitten had escaped -Rath 

 its mother, and sent to us by a friend, when about a month old, in August 1919 ; 

 and was fed every few hours, day and night, with cow's rnilk diluted with water 

 out of a tea spoon by ray wife, who has a wonderful faculty for rearing and 

 taming wild animals. The kitten soon took to the "spoon-feeding," clasping 

 the spoon with both fore paws, and sucking \ngorously, and throve well. When 

 old enough, she was fed on raw meat with occasionally a mouse, small bird 

 or rat. One day when sitting on my wife's lap at breakfast, she seized a bit 

 of cooked meat off the plate, and was allowed to eat it, but it disagreed with 

 her little inside badly, and she nearly died ; but my wife's assiduous nursing 

 pulled her through. She used to sleep either at the foot of our bed or on 

 top of the mosquito curtain, genei'ally tlie latter, and became so tame and gentle 

 that she was allowed full liberty about the house and garden ; becoming great 

 friends with our Airedale terrier, and it was very amusing seeing them playing 

 together. When she was about 8 months old we went to stay at a neighboui^'s 

 estate during his absence on leave, and unfortunately he had left 3 domestic 

 cats in the house, which we hoped might make fiiends with our kitten, but 

 they refused her friendly advances. And one morning " Kittycat " (as she 

 was named) went out as usual, after sleeping on top of the mosquito curtain 

 all night, and never returned for a week. Then my wife noticed that the cats 

 had taken to sitting on the verandah outside our bedroom window, apparently 

 on the watch : so we had them shut up at night, and at midnight of the 9th day, 

 to our great joy, back came " Kittycat ", very hungry and tiiin, but as tame 

 as ever. In June this year my wife took hei' up to Kotagiri '.\ith her, sitting 

 en her lap most of the way in" the train, and the Motor Car ! After thoy had 



