LEOPARD — WILD CAT— SERVAL— JUNGLE-CAT 17 



playing with their cubs, lions are remarkably like ordinary cats ; and in captivity 

 they often become almost as tame as the latter, the fact of their being more 

 dangerous being largely due to their superior strength and size, and not to a greater 

 inherent ferocity of character. 



As leopards have been referred to in the chapter on the animals 

 of Asia, it will suffice to mention in this place that they range all 

 over the African continent ; and that in the mountains of Morocco they are 

 represented by a lai-ge-spotted race, which, together with another from East Africa, 

 approximates in its markings to the Asiatic races of the species much more than do 

 the ordinary small-spotted African leopards. Yet another race (Felispardus nimr), 

 inhabiting the Red Sea littoral and Abyssinia, is greyish in ground-colour, in 

 some cases nearly black along the spine. Black leopards occur in Abyssinia 

 and East Africa. 



The European wild cat is represented in Africa by a nearly 



Wild C'lt 



allied but shorter-haired species (Felis ocreata), of which the typical 



Egyptian race is believed to be the original ancestor of the domesticated cats of 



Europe. In both the European and the African wild cat the body is marked with 



transverse dark stripes ; but these tend to disappear to a greater or less degree in 



the adults of the latter. In the African species, which is found in Sardinia as well 



as over the greater part of Africa, the four dark stripes on the top of the head are 



much less distinct than in its European relative, and if present at all on the nape 



of the neck are narrower and closer together. Eastwards this cat ranges into Syria 



and Arabia. The northern race was tamed by the ancient Egyptians, who have 



left at Bubastis and Beni-Hassan vast numbers of its mummified carcases. One of 



the ancient Egyptian frescoes in the British Museum represents a scene in which 



fowlers are accompanied in a boat by a tame cat which was probably trained to 



assist in the capture of birds. 



Another species of cat met with in North Africa and likewise 

 Serval. 



ranging over the greater portion of the continent is the serval 



(F. served), of which there are several local varieties or races, while wholly black 

 individuals are occasionally killed. In consequence of the length of its limbs and 

 the shortness of its tail (which is scarcely half the length of the head and body) the 

 serval is by no means such a graceful animal as many other members of the 

 cat tribe. The general colour of the fur is light fawn, with a more or less distinct 

 tinge of orange, passing into whitish on the under-parts. Upon this are a number 

 of solid black spots arranged in rows on the flanks and back, and on the middle 

 line of the back becoming so elongated as almost to blend into parallel stripes. 

 These spots are, of course, totally different from the light-centred rosettes of the 

 leopard. Although the cheeks are devoid of dark bars, the inner side of the upper 

 part of each fore-leg is marked by a pair of black transverse bands, and the black- 

 tipped tail ornamented with sable rings. The ears also are black behind, although 

 relieved by a light spot near the tip. A large serval will measure as much as 40 

 inches to the root of the tail, while that appendage may reach a length of 16 inches. 



North Africa is also the home of a local race of the jungle-cat 

 Jungle-Cat. . . J ° 



(F. chaus), a species of which the typical race is a native of India. 



The African race (F. c. nilotica) of this well-known species is characterised by its 

 vol. in. — 2 



