212 WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



of his nocturnal wanderings. But it is still well known- 

 in some of the wilder portions of the European con- 

 tinent, and has been traced eastward to the Caspian and to 

 Persia. It is said to be unknown in either Norway, Sweden, 

 or Russia, and it remains to be proved whether in Siberia 

 and Mongolia, etc. it shares territory with F.mannl. It has 

 the power of interbreeding with domestic varieties, and in 

 times gone by crosses half wild were not very uncommon in 

 the wilder parts of Great Britain, especially in Scotland. 

 There is however, a good deal of difference between the 

 ordinary tame cat and the wild one, and this is specially 

 marked in the tail. That of the domestic animal is somewhat 

 longer and more pointed. That of the other stumpier, more 

 distinctly barred, and looking like that of the Manx cat, as if 

 it had been cut off. Naturally, too, the colour of the wild 

 variety does not vary to the extent so frequently found with 

 those domesticated. I had a kitten a month or two ago which 

 was very similar in marking to that of the wild cat in China, 

 F. Sinensis, as they call it at the museum. It disappeared, 

 unfortunately, the body perhaps in pie, the pelt to the skin- 

 dealer. The striped markings of the wild cat are so well 

 developed that in olden days the animal was sometimes 

 known as the British tiger. The nine lives of the tame cat 

 are extended to at least a dozen in the case of Felis cat us. 

 No other animal is so tenacious of life. 



