BESCMIPTION. 39 



with soft thick fur, similar to the body, intermingled 

 with longer hairs, bushy in appearance and marked 

 with five dark brown-black annular rings, the three 

 first undefined, the last two and the tip darker in 

 colour, almost black ; the tip about two inches in 

 length. The posterior portion of the hind legs, up to 

 heel-bone, black. The pads of the feet blackish, 

 with a lighter-coloured rim." 



The colour of the fur of the Wild Cat as given by 

 different writers varies so much that it would lead 

 one to suppose no two persons could quite agree in 

 describing colour. Gesner says " colore fusci vel 

 grisei " ; Daubenton " plus ou moins melee de fauve, 

 de noir et de gris blanchatre " ; Brisson " varie 

 de brun, de jaunatre et de blanchatre " ; Pe^'Nant 

 " yellowish, mixed with grey " ; Bewick " pale yellow, 

 mixed with grey." Bingley says the colour varies 

 somewhat in different parts of Europe, all more or 

 less striped, never spotted. Temmikck describes 

 the colour as " gris foncee plus ou moins distincte 

 suivant I'age ; " CuviER " gris brun, avec les ondes 

 transverses plus foncees." Macgillivray gives the 

 colour of the fur of the upper and lateral parts as 

 pale reddish brown ; Donovan as a pale brown, 

 varied with grey ; Blasius a rusty yellowish grey. 

 Bell describes the general colour as grey, darker 

 on the back, paler on the sides ; Elliot as dark 

 grey; Brehm says a dull grey, sometimes shading to 

 black-grey in the male, yellow-grey in the female ; 

 KiNGSLEY says usually yellowish grey ; Abel Chapman 

 " the general colour of the Wild Cat in Spain is a 

 brindled grey, with black stripes." 



Mr. Pope has made some interesting observations 

 on the variation of colour in the Domestic race (see 



