INSTINCTIVE RAPACITY 
trating its instinctive recognition of prey and intuitive knowl- 
edge of what to do — and lose no time about it. 
“Thad a kitten brought to me very young. . . and it became quite tame 
and was the admiration of all who saw it. Its activity was quite marvelous 
and it was very playful and elegant in its motions. When it was about 
eight months old I introduced it into a room where there was a small fawn 
of the gazelle, and the little creature flew at it the moment it saw it, seized it 
by the nape, and was with difficulty taken off.. . It would occasionally 
find its way to the rafters of bungalows and hunt for squirrels. Sir W. 
Elliot notices that he has seen several undoubted hybrids between this 
and the domestic cat, and I have also observed the same.” 
Leaving Asia for the present, let us turn to Africa and speak 
first of the big serval, which is met with throughout that 
continent, yet whose habits are little known. Its body may 
measure thirty-eight inches, and the tail add sixteen inches 
more; and it stands on long legs and wears a black-spotted 
coat of no particular color or value. Nevertheless, as the fur 
is long and soft it is a good deal used by furriers, and wholly 
black skins frequently come to market, as is the case with most 
cats. Africa has some other cats of her own of which we 
know little, and a few which she shares with Asia or Europe, 
and these last form a connected group of historical interest. 
Puss and her Ancestors 
If you were to go into that magnificent storehouse of Egyp- 
tian antiquities at Boulak, near Cairo, you would see rows of 
skillfully wrapped mummies of cats and of the richly adorned 
cases in which many of them had been laid to rest with pious 
care. One may imagine the pain and dismay with which any 
of their former mistresses would view them here, Veneration 
set up as “objects of interest” for idle and irreverent f° ©**s- 
eyes, for these were beloved companions or revered pensioners 
of the days of the early Pharaohs. Read Miss Agnes Rep- 
plier’s ** account of them : — 
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