~ a 
* 
THE WILD CAT 
In its native mountains the ounce attacks wild 
sheep and goats, and it prefers, like its prey, lofty 
altitudes. The cat is usually found at such heights 
as 9,000 feet, but in winter descends rather lower. 
Like the puma, but unlike its nearer relative the 
leopard, the ounce apparently will not fall foul of man. 
At any rate there appears to be no positive record of 
its ever having done so. In the Caucasus dwells a 
leopard-like creature which has been confounded with 
the ounce. But it has been shown that the “ leopard ”’ 
of the Caucasus is a true leopard, though differing a 
good deal from the African and Indian beasts. Its 
paleness of hue approaches that of the ounce, but it 
is not so pronounced. Felis tulliana, as it is called, 
is apparently a “ good”’ species of leopard, and is not 
the same as Felis uncia. 
THE WILD CAT 
Felis catus of Britain and Europe generally is one 
of those creatures which are distinctly on the wane; 
that is to say, so far as concerns this country. On the 
Continent in wild forests, such as those of Transylvania 
and in many parts of Europe, the wild cat still lives 
and multiplies. A defunct one floating down the 
River Adige allowed a witty onlooker to term it the 
“poor ‘cat 1) the adage.” In Regents “Parke une 
cats chiefly observable are kept for the purpose of 
thinning the rats and mice which revel there in un- 
accustomed plenty, and do not belong to Felis catus, 
as some people still think.~ The genuine wild cat, how- 
ever, with which we are here concerned is often on view 
in the Zoo. There was until lately a fine one, pre- 
sented by that eminent zoological observer, the late 
Lord Lilford. This cat spoke at times, and with no 
un certain sound; its loudness was indisputable, and 
an excellent sympathizer with beasts who wrote in the 
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