582 Great and Small Game of Africa 



antelopes. It is essentially nocturnal in its habits, and is, therefore, not 

 often encountered by the sportsman. The natives usually take it by 

 snaring, or by hunting with dogs. 



The Felts nigripes (blackfooted cat), discovered by Burchell in his 

 travels bevond the Orange River at the beginning of this century, 1 is, I am 

 inclined to think, a sub-species of the serval. It was called by the 

 Bachapins (modern Batlapins, South Bechuanaland) Ktikiktid/i, and Burchell 

 states that its skin was much sought after by these tribes -people for 

 making karosses. This probably accounts for its present rarity. It is now 

 a scarce cat. I procured a skin in 1890, at Morokweng, a Barolong native 

 town in South Bechuanaland, just on the edge of the Kalahari desert. The 

 skin, which is of a handsome ochreous-tawny colour, beautifully lined and 

 spotted, has been identified by Mr. Oldfield Thomas as that of F. nigripes. 

 It is in general colour very like the serval's, but smaller. This agrees with 

 the account of Burchell, who describes this animal as not larger than the 

 domestic cat. The hind-legs are, like the fore-legs, deeply barred with black. 

 Burchell describes all the markings on the lower part of the body as 

 extremely black, as well as the under parts of the feet, from which the 

 animal gets its scientific name. The serval is a fierce, untamable cat, and 

 even young animals which I have seen in captivity exhibited great hatred 

 of mankind, spitting and swearing whenever one approached them. 



H. A. Brvden. 



The Red Tiger-Cat (Felis chrysothrix) 

 and the Gray Tiger-Cat (F. celidogaster) 



This magnificent wild cat is found in West Africa, its habitat being at 



present chiefly known as Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the Gambia country. 



It varies a good deal in coloration, and, in Mr. D. G. Elliot's fine folio 



monograph of the cats, Wolfs very handsome coloured drawing depicts 



1 Burchcil's Travels, vol. ii. p. 592. 



