210 WILD LII-E IX CHINA. 



But it is not by anj^ means the only cat of the Empire. 

 A more beautiful one, known along the southern frontier and 

 in Burma, is the marbled cat, Fe//s marmorata, of about the 

 same size as Felis Bengalensis, but, as its name implies, more 

 richly marked. Nature has her reason for this. The mar- 

 bled cat is almost purely arboreal, and its markings serve 

 for the purpose of making it seem part and parcel of the 

 branch on which it lies in wait, just as the markings of the 

 night-jar give it during the day the appearance of a knotty 

 excrescence from the bark. 



There is also the Tibetan cat, Felis scripta, which in 

 colouring is somewhat like the ounce or snow leopard, but 

 in size is a true cat. 



Still another, known along the line of the Himala}'as 

 and in Tibet, is the so-called golden cat, F. Temmincki. 

 This is of larger stature, rivalling very nearly the clouded 

 kopard at times, that is to say measuring 5 ft. or more in 

 length. From the S. E. end of the mountain system, it 

 passes on into Burma, and is probably a denizen of the hillj' 

 districts in S. W. Yunnan near to which there has recently 

 been frontier trouble between Great Britain and China. 

 Scarcelj' anything is known of this cat even bj' the most 

 experienced naturalists, another reason for that widespread 

 examination into the life of Chinese mammalia which has 

 been before recommended. 



Many of our readers will remember that very beautiful, 

 if somewhat fantastic, ode by Gray on the death of a fav- 

 ourite cat by drowning, of which the moral is, 

 " A favourite has no friends." 



Everybody, too, knows the fondness of our domestic cat 

 for fish, and some instances have been reported where tabby 

 has seriously taken to fishing notwithstanding her dislike to 

 wetting her fur. But very few people know that there is a 

 wild cat which is so devoted to this practice as to be known 

 by the name of the fishing cat. Yet so it is. Technically 

 the species is named F. viverriiia. It resembles other cats 

 both with regard to size and shape, being spotted, short- 

 limbed, and brownish-grey in colour as a rule. It is, however, 

 considerably larger than the domestic animal, reaching at 

 times a length of 3Ht. and standing some 15 inches high. Its 

 peculiar mode of life is not its only distinguishing mark. 

 Anatomically there are differences in the skull which mark 

 it off from ordinary cats, and bring it more nearly into line 

 with monkeys. Geographically it ranges from Ceylon 

 through India to the Malay Peninsula, Burma, and so into 

 southern China. Possibly it is the same species that is 

 found in Formosa. Terrible is the character — for a cat — of 

 F. viverriiia. That it should take to fowls when in the 



