THE OCELOT. SI 



THE OCELOT. 



IN THE MENAGERY OF MR. CROSS, KING'S MEWS, CHARING CROSS. 



The Ocelot is, unquestionably, one of the most beautiful of the cat tribe, holding an intermediate 

 station between the leopard and the domestic cat. It is smaller than the former, not exceeding, 

 generally, three feet in length, and about one foot and a half in height. The length of its tail is 

 about one foot. In the latter character, however, a very essential difference exists between the ocelot 

 confined in the Tower, and that from which our drawing is taken. In the former, the length of the 

 tail does not exceed six or seven inches, and we are led to believe that its abrupt stumpiness is not the 

 general characteristic of the animal, but that it is purely accidental ; for in the ocelot in the collection 

 of Mr. Cross, the tail is full a foot in length, and curls at the end somewhat similar to the tail of the 

 greyhound. We heard it, however, remarked by Mr. Cops at the Tower, that it is a very rare 

 circumstance to meet with an ocelot with its tail complete, and therefore many zoologists have been 

 misled on this point, and have been induced to consider the stumpiness of the tail as one of the natural 

 characteristics of the animal. This variation in the appendage of the animal has induced some natu- 

 ralists even to consider it as decisive of a distinct species, especially as the markings are also different ; 

 but we cannot coincide in that opinion, as the other generic characters of the two animals are in perfect 

 correspondence. 



The gi-ound colour of the fur is gray, mingled with a slight tinge of fawn ; this is beautifully 

 marked with a number of longitudinal bands, the dorsal one being entirely black and uninterrupted; 

 and the lateral ones, amounting to seven or eight on each side, compose a series of elongated spots, 

 the margins of which are perfectly black, and the central parts of a deeper fawn than the general 

 ground. These margins of black become black lines and spots on the neck and head and on the outer 

 sides of the limbs. From the top of the head towards the shoulders there pass several diverging black 

 bands, between which there is a single longitudinal, though somewhat interrupted narrow black line, 

 occupying the centre of the neck above. The under parts of the body are whitish, spotted with black, 

 and the tail, which is of the same ground colour as the body, is also covered with black spots. The 

 ears are short and rounded, the external margin being black, surrounding a large central whitish spot. 



The ocelot is a native of South- America, inhabiting the deep forests of Mexico, Peru, and 

 Paraguay. The animal in the Tower was presented to the King by the late Sir Ralph Woodford, 

 Governor of Trinidad, under the name of the Peruvian tiger, from which the conclusion may be 

 drawn, that it is a native of that country. The masculine gender of this animal is strongly depic- 

 tured in the round, chubby shape of the head, exactly corresponding with the same characteristic in 

 the male cat ; on the other hand, the specimen in the collection of Mr. Cross being a female, possesses 

 the milder traits incidental to the sex. 



The native habits of the ocelot resemble those of the greater portion of its tribe, remaining during 

 the day-time closely secluded in the depths of the forests, and prowling forth at night in search of its 

 prey. There is, however, one trait in this animal which distinguishes it in general from some other 

 species of the cat tribe, and which brings it into closer relation with the common domestic cat, which 

 is, the astonishing agility with which it ascends the trees in pursuit of the birds, following them to 

 their very nests, and devouring them on the spot with the feathers on. We have the authority of 

 D'Azara for the latter coincidence, although it is in contradiction with the general habit of the animal 



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