12 
FELID2E. 
Creighton, Lord Roden’s gamekeeper at the former locality, he informed 
me that he had never seen this species in Ireland. 
The largest cat I ever saw (it weighed 10 lbs. 9 oz.) was shot in a wild 
state, at Shane’s Castle Park (Co. Antrim), in Dec., 1847, and sent to 
Belfast for the purpose of being preserved. This specimen was Felis 
catus in everything but the form of the tail, which was not bushy at the 
end, and in the fur being finer in texture. It was as strong in every re- 
spect as that animal, but of a lighter grey colour than a F. catus from 
Invernesshire, with which it was compared. Throughout the entire body, 
legs, and tail, it had all the black markings of the true wild cat. The 
animal appeared to be a genuine hybrid between Felis catus and the 
domestic cat. 
My relative Robert Langtry, Esq., on returning to Belfast from Aber- 
arder, Invernesshire, in the middle of October, 1842, brought me two 
wild cats ( Felis catus), an old and a young animal, which had been killed 
a few days previously. The story of their capture is as follows : Mac- 
gregor, one of his keepers, observed a great quantity of the feathers and 
other remains of many grouse about a “ water-break ” in his beat, and five 
of these birds, in excellent condition, just killed, and wanting the head 
and neck, but otherwise quite uninjured, so that they were taken to his 
master and served up at table. Suspecting that wild cats were the cul- 
prits, he set traps for them, and caught these two. He expected to cap- 
ture two or three more, as the young generally keep with their parents. 
It was supposed that the wild cats would not have made any further use 
of the grouse off which they had taken the heads. These had probably 
been eaten. 
The Fox, Vulpes vulgaris, Briss. 
The fox, like the otter, is still found in suitable localities throughout 
the island, wherever it can remain in spite of man. In many parts of the 
country this species is abundant, but in no district of which I am aware 
have so many been taken as on the mountains in the south of the County 
of Down. The keeper at Tollymore Park, situated in this district, in- 
formed me, in August, 1851, that, since he came there, in 1827, he had 
killed upwards of 400 foxes in the neighbourhood. A little dog (the 
stuffed remains of which he still possesses) was at the death of 131 in the 
space of six or seven years. The poor dog was drowned when crossing 
the river in the park, during a great flood. 
When visiting Dunfanaghy, and the neighbouring mountains of Done- 
gal, on 27th June, 1852, a fox-earth, said to contain two old and five 
young ones, and situated above a small lake at the base of Rosheen, was 
pointed out to me. Two cubs, almost full-grown, were out sporting them- 
selves, and I lay for a long time, at the distance of seventy or eighty 
yards, observing their gambols. They were playful as young kittens, and 
very graceful in their movements. At first they amused themselves about 
the mouth of the earth, but afterwards went quite away from it. A little 
further on I saw an old fox. 
Professor Stevelly informed me, in September, 1851, that he frequently 
saw, at Col. Hodder’s, Hoddersfield (Co. Cork), between the years 1815 
and 1819, a pet fox, which was regularly fed with the fox-hounds, and 
went out pretty constantly with them in pursuit of wild foxes, taking as 
much pleasure in the sport as the hounds did. This fox frequently went 
away for upwards of a week at a time, but always returned of his own 
accord back to Hoddersfield. 
