THE CARACAL. 59 
he mounts the tallest trees with surprising swiftness and 
agility. It is even said that his qualifications for the 
chase are capable of cultivation ; and it has been repeated 
by travellers, from the days of the celebrated Marco Polo 
downwards, that the princes of the East occasionally 
make use of his services in taking small game in nearly 
the same manner as they employ the subject of the 
succeeding article for the larger: but from all that we 
know of his disposition in a state of captivity, this state- 
ment appears, to say the least, extremely questionable. 
In size the Caracal is somewhat larger than the Fox. 
The whole of the upper surface of his body is of a deep 
and uniform brown, the hairs being for the most part 
slightly tipped with gray; the under and inner parts 
are nearly white; and the chin and lower lip, and two 
spots, one on the inner side of and above the eye, and 
the other beneath its outer angle, completely so. The 
neck and throat are of a lighter and brighter brown than 
the rest of the fur. The ears, which are long and 
upright, taper gradually to a fine tip, which is sur- 
mounted by a pencil of long black hairs; they are black 
externally and whitish within. It is to the striking 
character afforded by these organs that the animal is 
indebted for his modern name of Caracal, corrupted 
from his Turkish appellation, which, equally with that 
by which he is known in Persia, signifies “ black ear,” 
His whiskers are short, and take their origin from a 
series of black lines which occupy the sides of the 
muzzle; at some distance behind them, in front of the 
neck on each side, is a short and thick tuft of lighter 
coloured hairs. The tail, which is eight or nine inches 
