THE WILD OAT. 
161 
with their parents until they are full grown and able to take npon themselves the cares of 
wedded life. 
In Maxwell’s “Wild Sports of the West” are several anecdotes of a fierce savage breed 
of Cats running wild, and depopulating the rabbit-warrens sadly. One of these animals, 
which was killed after a severe battle, was of a dirty-gray color, double the size of the common 
house Cat, and its teeth and claws more than proportionately larger. This specimen was a 
female, which had been traced to a burrow under a rock, and caught in a rabbit-net. With 
her powerful teeth and claws she tore her way through the net, but was gallantly seized by 
the lad who set the toils. Upon him she turned her energies, and bit and scratched in a most 
savage style until she was despatched by a blow from a spade. The wounds which she 
inflicted were of so severe a character that lock-jaw was threatened, and the sufferer was sent 
to an hospital. 
Besides these huge Wild Cats, which may, in all probability, be the true Fells catus, 
there are many house Cats which run away from their rightful^ home, and, taking up their 
residence in the rabbit-warren, are as formidable enemies to rabbits and poultry as those of the 
larger kind. No less than five males were caught at one time in an outhouse, penned up until 
the morning, and then shot ; after which execution the neighboring warren largely increased 
its population. 
The Wild Cat takes up its residence in rocky and wooded country, making its home in 
the cleft of a rock or the hollow of some aged tree, and issuing from thence upon its marauding 
excursions. It has even been known to make its domicile in the nest of some large bird. It 
is rather a prolific animal, and, were it not kept within due bounds by such potent enemies as 
the gun and the snare, would rapidly increase in numbers. As it is, however, the Wild Cat 
yields to these foes, and slowly, but surely, vanishes from the land. The number of its family 
is from three to five, or even six. The female is smaller than the male. 
In total length, an adult male Wild Cat is about three feet, of which the tail occupies 
nearly a foot. This does not seem to be a very considerable length, as there are domestic Cats 
which equal or even exceed these dimensions ; but it must be remembered that the tail of the 
Wild Cat is much shorter than that of the domestic animal. 
Of the fiery energy which actuates this animal when attacked and roused to fury, the 
following extract from St. John’s “Highland Sports” will give an excellent idea : 
“The true Wild Cat is gradually becoming extirpated, owing to the increasing preserva- 
tion of game ; and, though difficult to hold in a trap, in consequence of its great strength and 
agility, lie is by no means difficult to deceive, taking any bait readily, and not seeming to be 
as cautious in avoiding danger as many other kinds of vermin. Inhabiting the most lonely 
and inaccessible ranges of rock and mountain, the Wild Cat is seldom seen during the day- 
time ; at night, like its domestic relative, he prowls far and wide, walking with the same 
deliberate step, making the same regular and even track, and hunting its game in the same 
tiger-like manner ; and yet the difference between the two animals is perfectly clear and visible 
to the commonest observer. The Wild Cat has a shorter and more bushy tail, stands higher 
on her legs in proportion to her size, and has a rounder and coarser look about the head.” 
Although so scarce in these days of allotments and railways, the Wild Cat was once so 
common in England as to be an absolute pest, and was formerly numbered among the beasts 
of chase that contributed to the amusement of the dull unlearned leisure which fell to the lot 
of those olden aristocrats of our land whose only excitement was found in the act of destruc- 
tion, either of men or beasts. As were almost all destructive beasts, it was protected by the 
great few who suffered no scath by its depredations, to the loss of the many small, whose little 
stock of poultry paid heavy toll to the licensed marauders. Even its fur was made a subject 
of legal enactment, being permitted to some orders of the people and forbidden to others. 
When engaged in the study of an illustrated work on ethnology, with its portraits of 
the various forms which are assumed by the human race, a certain feeling of relief and repose 
