THE CAT. 247 



persistently preyed upon by the golden eagles ; 

 and he narrates that a tame eagle in his pos- 

 session attacked and killed several domestic 

 cats. Speaking of the Highland wild cat, he 

 says : " The strength and ferocity of the wild 

 cat when hemmed in or hard pressed is per- 

 fectly astonishing. The body when skinned 

 presents quite a mass of sinews and cartilage. 

 . . . I never saw an animal fight so desper- 

 ately, or one which was so difficult to kill. If 

 the tame cat has nine lives, the wild cat has 

 a dozen." Yet, in spite of its most formidable 

 powers of resistance, he found that an eagle 

 was able to destroy a full-grown wild cat with- 

 out the least trouble or danger by pouncing 

 upon it and driving its talons through its ribs 

 and flanks into its vital organs, and at the same 

 time bewildering the wretched animal by beat- 

 ing it with its winofs and tearing it with its 

 beak. 



The same author states that wild cats and 

 martens form the favourite food of the golden 

 eagle. I met, quite unexpectedly, with a par- 

 tial confirmation of this statement when visiting 

 the animals kept at the Crystal Palace a short 

 time ago. The keeper was showing me some 



