CHAPTER IV 



The Wild Cat: Strength of; Rencontre with — Trapping tame Cats: Destructiveness 

 of — Poisoning vermin — Trapping vermin 



The true wild cat ' is gradually becoming extirpated, owing to 

 the increasing preservation of game; and though difficult to 

 hold in a trap, in consequence of its great strength and agility, 



' The Duke of Sutherland, as head of the Clan Chattan, naturally protects the wild 

 cat to a certain extent. Mr. F. Buckland states that a striking difference exists between 

 it and tame cats in the length of intestines. They were only five feet in two specimens 

 of the wild cat, whereas they would be probably three times the length in the domesti- 

 cated cat (Log-Book of a Fisherman, p. 252). The wild cat is certainly not the parent 

 stock of our household cats. Its period of gestation is sixty-eight days, twelve days 

 longer than that of the domestic animal, yet they have been known to breed together 

 (St. G, Mivart, The Cc{,t, Murray, 1881, p. 6 note^. 



