CAPE WILD CAT 73 



has lived in the gardens for sixteen years, being one of 

 the pets of the staff. A few years ago her claws had 

 grown into the pads of the feet, owing to the incessant 

 walking on the concrete floors, and they had to be cut 

 off and extracted. This operation was performed without 

 chloroforming the animal, merely by putting her in a 

 large crate and fastening up her legs with ropes. Tame 

 as she was, she objected very much to the procedure and 

 growled, spat, and snarled like a freshly caught animal. 

 A fine pair of 3-year-old lions were obtained by purchase 

 from the Belgian Congo in 1916. The female has given 

 birth to two litters, the first of four (which she did not 

 rear) and the second of three, by a fine Black-maned 

 Somali Lion. It was then discovered that the mother 

 had no milk for her offspring, so they were removed 

 when only 18 hours old, and put on to a bull terrier 

 bitch, who — with the subsequent aid of an old pointer 

 bitch — successfully reared two of the cubs. Photographs 

 of the cubs, aged 6 weeks and 6 months respectively, are 

 appended. 



Felis caffra. Cape Wild Cat, Wilde Kat or Vaal Boschkat. 

 (Also called Wild Cat, or Gaffre Cat, by the colonials.) 



General coloration resembling that of the tame "tabby" 

 of the yellowish type — the ground colour varying from a 

 speckled grey-brown to a greyish yellow, marked with 

 more or less distinct dark horizontal stripes. Chin white. 

 Back of the ears reddish brown. Limbs darker than the 

 body and ringed with black. Tail ringed towards the 

 end with black and with a black tip. The kittens are 

 paler and yellower in tone than the adults, with the mark- 

 ings paler and less distinct. Length of head and body 

 of adult, 2 feet. Tail, 9 to 10 inches. 



The Wild Cat is fairly common throughout the wooded 



