229 
WILD-CATS AT THE ZOO. 
The reservation of one-tenth of the area of Scotland 
for deer-forests has probably arrested the extermin- 
ation of three, if not of four, of the largest and rarest 
of our birds and beasts of prey for at least a century. 
The great increase in the numbers of the golden 
eagle, and the migration of the ospreys from the 
lakes to the forests, are among the results of the 
protection so afforded. It was reasonable to expect 
that the wild-cat would also benefit by the policy, now 
generally in favour with owners of forests, of en- 
couraging animals of prey to keep down the grouse 
and hares. The arrival at the Zoological Gardens of 
two genuine Scotch wild-cats, trapped during last 
year on the same estate in Inverness-shire, is evidence 
that even there the rarest and wildest of all British 
quadrupeds are recovering from the persecution of 
half a century of grouse and black-cock preserving. 
Both were caught in steel traps, and each had lost 
part of a fore-foot; but with the wonderful vitality of 
all cats, they so far recovered from their injuries that, 
on being confronted with each other, they at once 
