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VERTEBEATA. 
THE WILD-CAT. 
here ; all our domestic cats, as Avell as the wild ones occasionally found in the woods^ are the 
descendants of those brought hither by the Europeans. 
The wild-cats of the European continent are either the descendants of the original races that 
have continued untamed from the beginning, or of domesticated cats that hare wandered from 
their homes, and, living apart from man, have relapsed into barbarism. It is said that the wild 
and tame cats, in their wanderings, sometimes meet ; when this is the case, the females of the 
tame breed are well treated by the savage cats, but the males are rudely set upon and sometimes 
torn in pieces. The wild and tame cats sometimes breed together, and produce the kind called 
Tiger- Cats. Some authors hold that the wild-cat is a distinct species, because its tail is shorter 
and more bushy than that of the domestic cat ; but this opinion seems not well founded, for still 
greater differences are .found in dogs which are acknowledged to be of the same race. 
The wild-cat is rather larger and more robust than the tame breed ; the head is triangular, 
and has a savage aspect, especially when the animal is irritated ; the fur is long, soft, and thick ; 
the back, sides, and limbs are gray, darker on the back and paler below, with a blackish longi- 
tudinal stripe along the middle of the back, and numerous paler curved ones on the sides. The 
tail is annulated with light gray and black, the tip of the latter color. As is the case with some 
other animals — the ox, dog, and horse, for instance — so it is with the cats. The wild ones are 
nearly all of the same hue, while the domestic ones, as we have already stated, are white, black, 
gray, and yellow, and of various mingled shades and colors. 
The Avild-cat is a very shy animal, chiefly nocturnal in its habits. It lurks in woods and 
thickets, and preys on hares, squirrels, and birds of various kinds. Some four or five hundred 
years ago it was common in England, and was a beast of chase like the fox and the hare ; it is 
now nearly extirpated. It is common in France, Germany, Russia, Hungary, and some other 
parts of Europe. 
There is a variety of this animal which we must not omit to mention : this is the Egyptian 
Cat, F. maniculata. It is found in a wild state in Nubia, and is said to be somewhat smaller than 
the European wild-cat ; the ground fur or hair is of a brownish yellow, dark above and pale 
below. The tail is slender, with two dark rings at its point. This is conjectured to be a distinct 
species, and of that kind domesticated in Egypt, and traced on the monuments and found in the 
cat-mummies. We see no necessity of adopting this opinion. It may be, indeed, a descendant of 
this breed, for there seems to be no animal that so soon loses its cultivation, and returns to a 
wild state. A trifling neglect of proper feeding or attention will often cause them to depend 
upon their own resources ; and the tasting of some wild and living food will tempt them to seek 
it again, and to leave their civilized home. They then prowl about in the same manner as their 
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