WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 



ascertain the most humane and speedy method of killing 

 cats, before they condemn an unfortunate amateur, who 

 perhaps for the first time in his life, makes the attempt, 

 and finds he has made what is considered a cruel failure, 

 and for which he is sometimes unmercifully punished. 



The wild cat (Felis catus) difiers in many particulars 

 from the domestic cat ; at the same time, they breed freely 

 together, and many instances are on record of fertile off- 

 spring having been produced. S. E. Pusy, Esq., has bred 

 and successfully crossed the wild and domestic cats, 

 several of which have been received and exhibited in the 

 Gardens. 



There is a great want of intelligence observable among 

 the cat tribe, because, during the period that the common 

 house cat has kittens, she does not usually know the differ- 

 ence between her own young or the young of either rats 

 or squirrels, as I have seen a cat suckling both at the same 

 time, licking and attending them as her own. 



The variety of the domestic cat known as the " tortoise- 

 shell" is, as a rule, a female, the opposite sex being 

 represented by the black, sandy, tabby and striped cats. 



Another singular variety of domestic cat is that known 

 as the Manx or tailless cat. This variety is certainly 

 common in the Isle of Man, but I have seen plenty of 

 cats on the island with long tails, and many whose length 

 of tail was intermediate, varying from 2 in. to 10 in. 



I have found the temper and disposition among cats to 

 be most variable, in fact few animals in my opinion 

 present so many individual differences in the same species. 

 I have no doubt that the loss of many of the lives of 

 human beings who have been attacked by cats is attribut- 

 able to the sudden impulsiveness to which all cats are 

 liable ; and it is, I consider, at all times dangerous to trust 

 even the tamest of lions or tigers. 



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