THE AFRICAN WILD CAT 



Wild Cat ; and in India a blending would no doubt 

 occur with the native wild cats of that country. 

 In fact there are strong reasons for assuming that 

 the domestic cats of India originated in the wild 

 cats of that country, and in recent times inter- 

 blended with those from the west, whose progeni- 

 tors were African Wild Cats. 



From the evidence of rock paintings and etchings, 

 the ancient Egyptians were in the habit of training 

 domesticated Wild Cats to capture game birds, 

 and probably small mammals as well. 



The usual custom, evidently, was to embark in 

 a boat with some decoy birds and a trained cat or 

 two, and to proceed to the shallows abounding in 

 papyrus reeds, where waterfowl of various kinds 

 congregated in great numbers. The cat was trained 

 to capture the birds for its master. One is depicted 

 in an Egyptian painting, which shows it in the act 

 of holding a bird in its mouth, another under its 

 forepaws, and a third between its hind feet. The 

 cat was also, no doubt, trained to retrieve birds 

 from the water, which had been maimed or kiUed 

 by the fowler. If the cats of those times had 

 as strong a dislike for water as those of to-day, 

 considerable patience must have been required 

 in their training to overcome this natural re- 

 pugnance to water, although cats, when hard 

 pressed, will plunge into a stream and swim 

 across. 



On these fowling expeditions with their trained 



