i8 



THE ANIMALS OF NORTHERN AFRICA 



Hunting-Leopard. 



relatively large size, and dark, grizzled ears, which differ in colour but little from 

 the rest of the head. 



A totally different type of cat is the caracal or red lynx (F. 



f*3T3C3.1 



caracal), a whole-coloured rufous species, with black ears, which 

 forms in some degree a connecting link between the more typical representatives 



of the Felidce and the true 

 lynxes of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere. The range of the 

 caracal is very extensive, 

 reaching from Cape Colony 

 through the desert districts 

 of eastern Africa, Syria, and 

 Persia to the plains of India. 

 The North African race, which 

 is of large size, has been named 

 F. c. berberorum. 



Another 

 member of the 

 cat tribe common to Asia and 

 Africa is the hunting-leopard, 

 or chita (Gynoelurus jubatus), 

 a large, long-legged animal, 

 with spots recalling those of 

 the serval, but distinguished 

 from all other Felidce by its 

 non-retractile claws. As the 

 hunting-leopard has been al- 

 ready referred to in the second 

 volume, a very brief notice 

 will suffice in this place. The 

 distribution of the African 

 race (0. j. guttatus), although 

 known to be extensive, has 

 not yet been fully defined. 

 The species is, however, re- 

 ported to be generally rare 

 in the south-east of the con- 

 tinent, but comparatively 

 common in the rocky ravines 

 of the Bengo Mountains, 

 where it frequents dense 



SERVAL. * _ 



forests, from which it issues 



forth to hunt its prey on the neighbouring plains. 



Hyamaand The striped hyaena (Hycvna striata) is yet another carnivore 



civet-Tribe, common to India and northern Africa, its range including also Arabia 



and Palestine, and in Africa extending all through the northern districts and a 



