246 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



the back of the tongue is pressed against the 

 soft palate during expiration through the mouth. 

 This last is almost exactly the sound which 

 many animals of the cat tribe emit when they 

 wish to intimidate a suspected enemy. The 

 other and much more explosive hiss uttered by 

 cats and snakes — popularly known as "spit- 

 ting" — is of the nature of an ultimatum. It 

 signifies in both orders of creatures a much 

 greater degree of anger than the prolonged 

 sound, and may be considered to be a menace 

 which, if disregarded, may be immediately fol- 

 lowed up by an attack with the fangs. 



Before bringing forward certain other facts, 

 gathered from a wider area, as to the use of 

 these sibilant snake - like sounds — which give 

 additional support to the "mimicry" hypothesis 

 — let us take note of some of the special 

 dangers which threaten wild cats nowadays, and 

 see if they will give any hints as to how a 

 serpent - like aspect might possibly afford pro- 

 tection. 



St John, in his ' Wild Sports and Natural 

 History of the Scottish Highlands,' states that 

 in his day the British wild cat became almost 

 extinct in some districts, owing to its being 



