WILD-CATS AT THE ZOO 
2 33 
and movements are almost the same. In colour it is 
a fine tawny-grey, with long bushy hair, a ruff round 
its face, yellow cheeks shading into white, a long, very 
broad nose, long ears slightly tufted, yellow eyes, and 
bars on its tail. There are also two dark bars on the 
inside of the arm, above the elbow ; when laying its 
ears back, spitting and uttering growls like distant 
thunder, it is the “very moral” of a big, ill-tempered 
domestic tom-cat, which poaches all day, fights all 
night, and sleeps by choice in the coal-cellar. Apart 
from their general resemblance to the tame cat, both 
the chaus and the Scotch cat in their moments of 
repose exactly resemble the domestic species. They 
never “ pace ” their cages — a habit which distinguishes 
all leopards and tigers, and all the tiger-cats ivhen 
young . They sleep all day, if possible, either curled 
up on their backs with their noses upwards, like a 
tame cat in a sunny window ; or with their backs 
drawn up and their fore-paws tucked neatly under 
their chests. When feeding, they do not lie down 
like the leopards, but crouch over their food, with 
their jaws almost upon the ground, and their backs 
somewhat arched, like a tame cat with a mouse. 
Anatomists state that the European wild-cat differs 
from the tame animal in the dimensions of that 
part of its interior which is in such request for violin- 
strings. If this objection is fatal to the claim of 
the former to be the ancestor of our cats, we should 
be inclined to find its direct ancestor in the chaus — • 
a view which need not conflict with the conclusions 
