746 A Monograph of the Species of Lynx. [No. 128. 



Bear. The wild Cat is their worst enemy, for its almost constant 

 employment is to look out for them in their holes, and steal their prey 

 from them. They are very cunning in undoing a sheep-fold, where 

 they help themselves very nobly. When attacked by a Dog, they throw 

 themselves immediately on the back, in the manner of a Cat, and turn 

 up the fore legs, to be the better able to defend themselves ; the Dog on 

 this lays hold, but the Lynx (Goupe) then makes use of his sharp claws 

 so effectually, that he flays his enemy alive."* 



The specimens of the Red Lynx which I have seen, in captivity, have 

 all been more or less tame, especially a fine male which was living in 

 the Zoological Society's Garden at the time I left London; this was 

 perfectly gentle and familiar, as much so as any domestic Cat; it 

 courted notice in the same manner as that animal, by purring and 

 arching up the back, and raising its short tail, which at other times 

 was ordinarily carried closely appressed, as in the Caracal : the latter 

 animal I have also repeatedly seen quite tame ; but not so the Bay and 

 Pardine Lynxes, which were shy and mistrustful, for ever growling and 

 spitting at r>ersons who approached them, and (the individuals) seem- 



* " It happened lately," continues this author, " that a Goupe making his way 

 into a sheep-fold, was discovered by a sly old he-Goat, who perceived his subterrane- 

 ous track, watched him narrowly, and as soon as he had come forth, before the body 

 could be got out, butted him, and gave him such home-pushes, that he laid him 

 dead in the grave of his own making." — Nat. Hist, of Norway, II. 21. 



Here it may be remarked, that the existence of the European Wild Cat in Scandi- 

 navia has been denied by later authorities, though Pontopiddan further states, (at 

 p. 8,) that " we have Cats both tame and wild; the latter are very large, and their 

 skins bear a good price ; they live by watching birds upon the trees, and then 

 seizing them with a sudden spring." This is quite the habit of the British Wild 

 Cat, which usually lies dozing or watching for prey upon a low pine-branch of its own 

 colour, where it cannot easily be discerned. M. Nilsson (as cited by Major Lloyd) 

 states, however, that the true Wild Cat does not inhabit Scandinavia, though a stray 

 domestic Cat may now and then be met with in the forest. The F. Catus of Linnaeus 

 is clearly the domestic species ; and the Faunas of Bilberg and Retzius throw no dis- 

 tinctlight upon the subject, failing to distinguish the two species apart ; which is also 

 the case in Muller's Prodromus, where reference is, however, made to Von Aphelin's 

 Work, (II. 299, ) which I have had no opportunity of consulting. M. Menetries notices 

 that the European Wild Cat is not rare in the Cisalpine forests of Caucasus, where the 

 Russians style it Kowka, or Wild Cat; a name which, according to Pallas [following 

 Guldenstadt], is bestowed on F. Chaus. It descends in winter to the Steppes. Tem- 

 niinck asserts that, in Hungary, Russia, and the Asiatic countries, this animal 

 attains a larger size, and yields a more esteemed fur, than in Western Europe; 

 though I incline to doubt whether the largest British specimens are anywhere 

 surpassed. 



