1 66 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



deer in the twelfth century was driven northward 

 from England and found its last home in Caithness, 

 and as the Wolf followed it a few centuries later, so 

 we may expect one day that the Wild Cat will come 

 to be numbered amongst the " extinct British 

 animals." The writer of the article "Cat" in the 

 Encyclopcedia Britannica expresses the opinion 

 that the Wild Cat still exists in Wales and in 

 the north of England, but gives no proof of its 

 recent occurrence there. From time to time we see 

 reports in the newspapers to the effect that a Wild 

 Cat has been shot or trapped in some out-of-the- 

 way part of the country ; but it usually turns out to 

 be a large example of the domestic cat, coloured like 

 the wild form. It is remarkable that when cats in 

 England are allowed to return to a feral state, their 

 offspring, in the course of generations, show a 

 tendency to revert to the wild type of the country ; 

 partly, no doubt, in consequence of former inter- 

 breeding with the wild species when the latter was 

 common throughout all the wooded portions of the 

 country, and partly because the light-coloured 

 varieties of escaped cats, being more readily seen 

 and destroyed, are gradually eliminated, while the 

 darker wild type is perpetuated. The great increase 

 in size observable in the offspring of escaped 

 domestic cats is no doubt due to continuous living- 

 on freshly-killed warm-blooded animals, and to the 

 greater use of the muscles which their new mode of 

 life requires. In this way, I think, we may account 

 for the size and appearance of the so-called " wild 

 cats," which are from time to time reported south 



