The Native Cat. 
( Dasyunis viverrinux.) 
Having already given a full account of the family of Dcmjurukv elsewhere, there remains nothing but to add a short 
notice of the most common and best known of the tribe, — the black and white, or buff and white-spotted “ Native 
Cat ” proper. 
These little creatures, with their fierce disposition, are familiar to the greater number of Colonists ; they inhabit 
our forests, but prefer to take up their abode with civilized man when they find out that he keeps plenty of meat 
about his habitation, or rears poultry. They are very savage for their size, and five of them kept in a cage without 
sustenance for a day only, had almost reduced themselves to the state of the famous tabbies of Kilkenny. The fact 
is, they devoured each other till only a pair remained, and the savage look and watchfulness of these two animals was 
amazing to behold. 
They are stubborn in the extreme, and appear to care about nothing. We have noticed them to come quite 
unconcerned into a tent at night, and take up a cosy place near the chi nine}-, from which a firestick only could 
dislodge them. Another case was mentioned not many days ago, when one of the Tiger Cats actually faced a half- 
caste man, who was terror-stricken, and ran away. A real aboriginal native, one of the old tribes, would have made 
short work of such an adversary; but these poor people have now almost died out, and the few still lingering behind 
cannot even remember the animals which their ancestors hunted. 
The common Native Cat of this Colony is about the size of a half-grown domestic Cat ; but further south, 
and more particularly in Tasmania, it grows somewhat larger. The colour is black with white spots, or yellowish-grey 
with white spots ; the tail rather bushy, and uniform in colour, whilst that of the larger Tiger Cat is smooth and 
spotted with white. The pouch, or rather skin-fold, with which the female is provided contains six teats, but the 
number of young seldom exceeds four, At a certain age the young are left in the spout-hole or crevice which the 
mother has selected for them whilst she goes out hunting, and on more than one occasion have we obtained voung 
specimens (the size of a half-growm rat) from such lairs during the parent’s absence, They begin to hunt at a very 
early age : probably they are forgotten by the old ones as soon as they are able to move about and catch something 
on their own account. 
The common Native Cat is destitute of the external fifth toe or thumb on the hind-foot ; the bones can be 
distinguished, however, in the skeleton. With regard to their geographical range, we may safely assert that they 
are peculiar to the South and South-east Coast and to Tasmania. The interior of the Colony is occupied by another 
species — Dcvtyuru-i geqffroyii — which appears ro be identical with the northern Native Cat (Day/unts hallucttim) . Not a 
single species has been recorded as inhabiting the West Coast. 
(Z r-.IS /■/ ' 
