The Cat Tribe 



57 



Pholo Itii J. S. Kinllaiid Ji- So.is. 



KA1-'1"ITI CAT 



The common \\iUl cat of .South Africa, 

 domestic cats. 



It ^YilI intciljrecd with 



It is, liowever, mucli stvoiiger than the 

 tame cats, witli which it ioterbreed.s freely. 

 In tiie Colony it is often difficult to 

 keep male tame eats, for the wild Kaffir 

 cats come down and iight them in tlie 

 breeding-season. The ]'>gyptian cat is really 

 the same animal, slightly modified by 

 climate. A very distinct species is the 

 Jungle-cat, ranging from India, through 

 Baluchistan, Syria, and East Africa, and called 

 in Hindustani the Ciiaus. The European 

 striped wild cat extends to tlie Himalaya, 

 where the range of the lion-colom'ed, 

 yellow-eyed chaus begins. The chaus has 

 a few black bars inside the legs, whicli 

 vary in difl'erent regions. The Indian 

 chaus has only one di.^tinctly marked; the Kaffir cat has four or five. The Egyptjan 

 Fettered Cat has been said to be the origin of the domestic and sacred cats of 

 l^&ypt- A male chaus is most formidable when " cornered." General Hamilton chased 

 one, which had prowled into the cantonments on the look-out for fowls, into a fence. 

 "After a long time I spied the cat squatting in a hedge," he writes, "and called for 

 the dogs. ^^^hen they came, I knelt down and began clapping my hands and clieering 

 them on. The cat suddenly made a clean spring at my face. I had just time to 

 catch it as one would a cricket-ball, and, giving its ribs a strong squeeze, threw it to 

 the dogs ; but not before it had made its teeth meet in my arm just above the wrist. For 

 some weeks I had to carry my arm in a sling, and I sltall carry the marks of the bite to 

 my grave." 



The chaus, as will be seen from the abo\e, wanders boldly down into the outskirts of large 

 towns, cantonments, and bungalows, on the look-out for chickens and pigeons. Its fa\'ourite 

 plan is to lie up at dawn in some piece of thick cover near to where tlie poultry wander out 

 to scratch, feed, and bask. It then pounces on the nearest unhappy hen and rushes off witli it 

 into cover. An acquaintance of the writer once had a number of fine Indian game fowl, of 

 which he w'as not a little proud. He noticed that one was missing every morning for 

 three days, and, not being able to 

 discover the robber, shut them up in 

 a hen-house. Next morning he heard 

 a great commotion outside, and one 

 of his bearers came running in to say 

 that a leopard was in the hen-house. 

 As this was only built of bamboo or 

 some such light material, it did not seem 

 probable that a leopard w^ould stay there. 

 Getting his rifle, he went out into the 

 compound, and cautiously approached 

 the hen-house, in which the fowls were 

 still making loud protests and cries of 

 alarm. The door was shut; but some 

 creature — certainly not a leopard — might 

 have squeezed in through the small en- 

 trance used by the hens. He opened the 

 door, and saw at the back of the hen-house 

 a chaus sitting, with all its fur on end. 



Photo bif A. .S. Rvdland d: Sons. 



AFRICAN CHAUS, OE JL'XOLE-CAT. 



Tlie chaus is the Indian and African equivalent of our wild cat. It is 



equally strong and savage. 



