THE CAT FAMILY--THE JAGUAR, THE SMALLER WILD CATS, THE DOMESTIC
CAT.
THE JAGUAR--Its Character, Distribution, and Habits--Fondness
for Negroes--THE PUMA--Its Character, Geographical Range, and
Habits--Mode of Hunting the Puma--THE OUNCE--THE CLOUDED TIGER--The
Character of its Fur, &c.--Its Habits--THE OCELOT--THE MARBLED
TIGER-CAT--THE VIVERRINE CAT--THE PAMPAS CAT--THE LONG-TAILED
TIGER-CAT--THE MARGAY--THE COLOCOLO--THE JAGUARONDI--THE EYRA--THE
SERVAL--THE RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT--THE LEOPARD CAT--THE BAY CAT--THE
SPOTTED WILD CAT--THE MANUL--THE EGYPTIAN CAT--THE COMMON WILD
CAT--THE DOMESTIC CAT--Historical Sketch--Characters of Skin,
&c.--Connection between Whiteness and Blindness--Habits--Use
of Whiskers--Diet--Poaching Propensities--Fondness for
Offspring--Foster-Children--Madness in Cats--Varieties--The Angora
Cat, Manx Cat, Persian Cat, and Chinese Cat.
THE JAGUAR.[19]
The Jaguar takes the place of the Leopard in America, where it is the
most formidable of beasts of prey. It extends across the whole of the
central part of the continent; its northern limit being the south-west
boundary of the United States.
It is a slightly larger animal than the Leopard, fierce and sulky in
expression, but more elegant in form, and far handsomer as to its skin.
The spots are arranged in larger and more definite groups, each group
consisting of a ring of well-defined black spots enclosing a space of
a somewhat darker tawny than the ground-colour, in which lesser spots
often occur.
The Jaguar is perhaps the fiercest-looking of all the great Cats,
having an extremely ferocious expression and a horrid habit of showing
its great fangs. Some time ago we were taken over the fine Lion-house
in the Zoological Gardens by the Superintendent, Mr. Bartlett, to
whose practical genius for everything that relates to the comfort of
the animals under his charge most of the perfections of that structure
are due. The little sleeping apartments at the back of the den open by
iron doors into a long corridor, and in each of the doors is a small
hole about the size of a penny, through which the keeper can look.
Mr. Bartlett blew sharply through the hole in the den of the Jaguar’s
cage, and then allowed us to look through, and there was something
terrible in the way the savage beast rushed at the door, growling and
“swearing” like a very large and fierce Tom Cat. Even the knowledge of
the strong iron door between us and the Jaguar could not prevent us
from starting back, there was something so suggestive, in the beast’s
looks, of being torn to pieces and devoured.
[Illustration: JAGUAR.]
The Jaguar is found in North and South America, extending from the
Southern regions of the United States, through Mexico, Central America,
and Brazil, as far south as Paraguay. Of its habits, occurrence, &c.,
the following interesting account is given by Mr. Darwin:[20]--
“The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the favourite
haunts of the Jaguar; but south of the Plata, I was told that they
frequented the reeds bordering lakes. Wherever they are, they seem
to require water. Their common prey is the Capybara, so that it is
generally said, where Capybaras are numerous there is little danger
from the Jaguar. Falconer states that near the southern side of the
mouth of the Plata there are many Jaguars, and that they chiefly live
on fish. This account I have heard repeated. On the Paranà they have
killed many wood-cutters, and have even entered vessels at night.
There is a man now living in Bajada, who, coming up from below when
it was dark, was seized on the deck; he escaped, however, with the
loss of the use of one arm. When the floods drive these animals from
the islands, they are most dangerous. I was told that, a few years
since, a very large one found its way into a church at Santa Fé: two
padres entering one after the other were killed, and a third, who
came to see what was the matter, escaped with difficulty. The beast
was destroyed by being shot from a corner of the building, which was
unroofed. They commit also at these times great ravages among Horses
and cattle. It is said that they kill their prey by breaking their
necks. If driven from the carcass, they seldom return to it. The
Gauchos say that the Jaguar, when wandering about at night, is much
tormented by the Foxes yelping as they follow him. This is a curious
coincidence with the fact which is generally affirmed of the Jackals
accompanying, in a similarly officious manner, the East Indian Tiger.
The Jaguar is a noisy animal, roaring much by night, and especially
before bad weather. One day, when hunting on the banks of the Uruguay,
I was shown certain trees to which these animals constantly recur for
the purpose, as it is said, of sharpening their claws. I saw three
well-known trees; in front, the bark was worn smooth as if by the
breast of the animal, and on each side there were deep scratches, or
rather grooves, extending in an oblique line, nearly a yard in length.
The scars were of different ages. A common method of ascertaining if
a Jaguar is in the neighbourhood is to examine these trees. I imagine
this habit of the Jaguar is exactly similar to one which may any day be
seen in the common Cat, as with outstretched legs and exserted claws it
scrapes the leg of a chair; and I have heard of young fruit-trees in
an orchard in England having been thus much injured. Some such habit
must also be common to the Puma, for on the bare hard soil of Patagonia
I have frequently seen scores so deep that no other animal could have
made them. The object of this practice is, I believe, to tear off the
ragged points of their claws, and not, as the Gauchos think, to sharpen
them. The Jaguar is killed, without much difficulty, by the aid of Dogs
baying and driving him up a tree, where he is despatched with bullets.”
It has been stated that great contests take place between the Jaguars
and the Alligators which frequent the rivers of the regions in which
the great Cat lives. It is said that the Jaguar is fully a match for
the Alligator on land, while in the water the reptile has usually
the best of it. The tale must, however, be taken _cum grano salis_.
A very curious fact is mentioned by Brehm, namely, that the Jaguar
always attacks Negroes and Indians in preference to whites, and that a
white man, obliged to sleep in the open air in a dangerous locality,
always feels perfectly safe if accompanied by natives. It is thought
that this is probably due to the strong odour which characterises
the skin of the Negro and other dark races. As tending to confirm
this extraordinary statement, we may mention an anecdote told us by
the late Prof. P. M. Duncan, F.R.S., of the behaviour of the great
_Felidæ_ at the Zoological Gardens towards coloured people. Every one
must have noticed the calm, supercilious, way in which those grand
creatures regard the visitors to their abode, seeming to look on them
as beings of an inferior race come to pay rightful homage to strength
and beauty; except at feeding-time, they seem hardly to give a thought
to the admiring crowds in their house of reception, but pace regularly
up and down their dens, or sit with paws thrust out between the bars,
stolidly gazing. Several years ago, however, when the Prince of Wales’s
Indian animals were exhibited at the Gardens, a little black boy, one
of the attendants attached to the collection, often passed through the
Lion-house; and when he did so, every Cat in the place started to its
feet, and rushed to the bars of its cage with great demonstrations of
anger and ferocity. They evidently felt that here, at least, was one of
the black, two-legged animals on which their fathers and grandfathers
had fed from time immemorial, and that now was their time to strike
for a pleasant change of diet, after the monotony of beef bones,
ignominiously cut up and parcelled out to them.
THE PUMA.[21]
The Puma, or “South American Lion,” is the second great American
Carnivore. It occurs far more widely spread in the continent than the
Jaguar, ranging from the cold regions of the Strait of Magellan up
to 50° or 60° north latitude. In appearance it is not unlike a small
Lioness, having a tint somewhat similar to the characteristic tawny
colour of the monarch of Africa, but darker, greyer, and less rich;
the mane, too, is absent. Its head is proportionally, as well as
absolutely, much smaller than that of the Lion; its face is rounder,
and it is altogether a much smaller beast: its average size being about
thirty-nine or forty inches from the snout to the root of the thick,
strong tail, the latter again being some twenty-five or twenty-six
inches long, and the height about the same. Indistinct spots occur, as
in the Lion, on the belly and the inside of the legs. The hind-quarters
are very large, and are kept higher than the shoulders in walking. The
skin beneath the belly is remarkably loose and pendulous.
Unlike the Jaguar, the Puma avoids water, although well able to swim
when necessary. It is as much at home in trees as on solid ground,
and is a terror to the Capuchin and other Monkeys which abound in the
forests of South America. It is, however, a far more cowardly animal
than the Jaguar, and is not feared by the natives to anything like the
same degree. Mr. Darwin, who had ample opportunity of observing its
habits, writes thus of it in his “Naturalist’s Voyage”:--
“This animal has a wide geographical range, being found from the
equatorial forests, throughout the deserts of Patagonia, as far south
as the damp and cold latitudes (53° to 54°) of Tierra del Fuego. I have
seen its footsteps in the Cordillera of Central Chili, at an elevation
of at least 10,000 feet. In La Plata the Puma preys chiefly on Deer,
Ostriches, Bizcacha, and other quadrupeds. It there rarely attacks
cattle or Horses, and most rarely man. In Chili, however, it destroys
other quadrupeds. I heard, likewise, of two men and a woman who had
been thus killed. It is asserted that the Puma always kills its prey
by springing on the shoulders, and then drawing back the head with one
of its paws until the vertebræ break. I have seen, in Patagonia, the
skeletons of Guanacos, with their necks thus dislocated.
“The Puma, after eating its fill, covers the carcass with many large
bushes, and lies down to watch it. This habit is often the cause of
its being discovered; for the Condors, wheeling in the air, every now
and then descend to partake of the feast; and being angrily driven
away, rise all together on the wing. The Chileno Guaso then knows
there is a Lion [Puma] watching his prey; the word is given, and men
and Dogs hurry to the chase. Sir F. Head says that a Gaucho in the
Pampas, upon merely seeing some Condors wheeling in the air, cried, ‘A
Lion!’ I could never myself meet with any one who pretended to such
powers of discrimination. It is asserted that if a Puma has once been
betrayed by thus watching a carcass, and has then been hunted, it never
resumes this habit, but that having gorged itself, it wanders far away.
The Puma is easily killed. In an open country it is first entangled
with the bolas,[22] then lazoed, and dragged along the ground till
rendered insensible. At Tandil (south of the Plata), I was told that
within three months one hundred were thus destroyed. In Chili they
are generally driven up bushes or trees, and are then either shot or
baited to death by Dogs. The Dogs employed in this chase belong to a
particular breed, called ‘Leoneros.’ They are weak, slight animals,
like long-legged Terriers, but are born with a peculiar instinct for
this sport. The Puma is described as being very crafty. When pursued it
often returns on its former track, and then suddenly making a spring on
one side, waits there till the Dogs have passed by. It is a very silent
animal, uttering no cry even when wounded, and only rarely during the
breeding season.”
The comparative silence of the Puma is very noticeable in the specimens
at the Zoological Gardens. They never roar like other large Cats,
never, in fact, getting beyond a sort of hoarse grunt; but when angry,
they spit and “swear” in precisely the same manner as furious Tom Cats.
In this respect they differ very markedly from the Lion and Tiger, and
agree with the lesser Cats, such as the Ocelot, Serval, Lynx, &c.
The flesh of the Puma is often eaten by the Gauchos. Mr. Darwin, who
tried it, pronounced it to be very white, and to taste remarkably like
veal. This is a curious circumstance, as the flesh of most Carnivora
is anything but palatable. While speaking of the Leopard, we mentioned
its curious habit of _squatting_ instead of _lying_ down to eat, and
of only occasionally touching its food with its paws. With the Puma
this is still more remarkable; it squats in the same manner as the
Leopard, but, although we have watched it many times, we never once saw
it use its paws to assist in holding its food. However difficult of
manipulation the bone may be, however it may slip about and object to
be crunched, it never seems to occur to the animal that he might use
his paws to steady it.
In captivity, the Puma, at any rate when caught young, is a tolerably
docile animal, and, like the Domestic Cat, is fond of playing with
inanimate objects; the Pumas at the Zoological Gardens, for instance,
have a large wooden ball as a toy. They do not, however, appear to be
always perfectly amiable; the female may often be seen swearing at her
lord in a most reprehensible manner.
[Illustration: SNOW LEOPARD, OR OUNCE.
(_From the Living Specimen in the Zoological Gardens, London._)]
THE OUNCE.[23]
The Ounce, or “Snow Leopard,” as it is commonly called by sportsmen
in the hills, is found throughout the Himalayas at a great elevation,
never very much below the snows, at ranges varying with the season from
9,000 to 18,000 feet. It is said to be more common on the Tibetan side
of the Himalayas; it is found also throughout the highland region of
Central Asia, and extends as far west as Smyrna.
[Illustration: OUNCE.]
It is about the same size as the Leopard (four feet four inches long,
excluding the tail), which it also resembles in habits; in fact, it
may be looked upon as a Leopard specially adapted for a cold climate.
The ground-colour of the skin is pale yellowish-grey, turning beneath
to dingy yellowish-white. It is spotted in much the same way as the
Leopard, though not so distinctly. “The fur throughout is very dense,
and it has a well-marked, though short mane. The face is short and
broad, and the forehead much more elevated than in any other Cat.”
The Ounce is said to frequent rocky ground, and to kill the Wild Sheep
as well as Domestic Sheep, Goats, and Dogs; but it has never been known
to attack man.
THE CLOUDED TIGER.[24]
This animal, which is about intermediate in size between the great
Cats, such as the Lion, Tiger, or Leopard, and the lesser kinds, such
as the Ocelot, Eyra, or Tiger-Cats, is, as far as the markings of the
skin are concerned, one of the most beautiful animals in the whole
family. The ground-colour of the skin is not so fine as that of the
Tiger, being a light buff instead of a rich orange-tawny, but the
large, irregular, cloud-like patches of black are far more exquisite
than the parallel bands of the Tiger; and, indeed, the only animal
which in any way approaches it in the beauty of its markings is the
Ocelot, and from this the Clouded Tiger certainly bears the palm. Its
form is not particularly graceful, as its legs are short in comparison
with the length of its body, and its snout, though longer than that of
most Cats, is blunt and somewhat awkward. One of the chief beauties
of this creature, however, is its magnificent tail, which is fully
four-fifths the length of the body (the latter being some forty inches
long), and handsomely ringed with black. The skull is much elongated,
especially its facial portion, and bears a strong resemblance to that
of the extinct _Felis smilodon_. The pupil is oblong and erect, not
round, as in all the preceding species.
[Illustration: CLOUDED TIGER.]
The Clouded Tiger, or _Rimau Dahan_, is found in Siam, Assam, Borneo,
Java, Sumatra, and the Malayan Peninsula. It was first introduced to
Great Britain by Sir Stamford Raffles, who brought two specimens with
him to England, of which he gives the following interesting account:--
“Both specimens above mentioned, while in a state of confinement,
were remarkable for good temper and playfulness; no domestic kitten
could be more so. They were always courting intercourse with persons
passing by, and in the expression of their countenance, which was
always open and smiling, showed the greatest delight when noticed,
throwing themselves on their backs, and delighting in being tickled and
rubbed. On board the ship there was a small Musi Dog, who used to play
round the cage and with the animal, and it was amusing to observe the
playfulness and tenderness with which the latter came in contact with
his inferior-sized companion. When fed with a fowl that had died, he
seized the prey, and after sucking the blood and tearing it a little,
he amused himself for hours in throwing it about and jumping after it
in the manner that a Cat plays with a Mouse before it is quite dead.
He never seemed to look on man or children as prey, but as companions,
and the natives assert that when wild they live principally on poultry,
birds, and the smaller kind of deer. They are not found in numbers, and
may be considered rather a rare animal, even in the southern part of
Sumatra. Both specimens were procured from the interior of Bencoolen,
on the banks of the Bencoolen River. They are generally found in the
vicinity of villages, and are not dreaded by the natives, except as
far as they may destroy their poultry. The natives assert that they
sleep and often lie in wait for their prey on trees; and from this
circumstance they derive the name of _Dahan_, which signifies the fork
formed by the branch of a tree, across which they are said to rest, and
occasionally stretch themselves.
“Both specimens constantly amused themselves in frequently jumping and
clinging to the top of their cage, and throwing a somerset, or twisting
themselves round in the manner of a Squirrel when confined, the tail
being extended and showing to great advantage when so expanded.”
Besides the localities we have mentioned, the Clouded Tiger is
described by Consul Swinhoe as existing in Hainan, and he gives a
curious quotation respecting the animal from a native paper, the
_Hainan Gazetteer_:--“Pao, or Leopard, resembling a Tiger in form, with
white fur and round head. Those with spots like cash (Chinese coin) are
called the ‘Golden-cash Leopard’ (_Felis pardus_). Those with spots
shaped like the mint-leaf are called Mint Leopard (_F. macrocelis_).
They dread Snakes. Hwai Nantzse has the following couplet:--‘Snakes
command the Leopard to stand: all creatures have their masters.’”
There was in 1876 a fine specimen in the Zoological Gardens, but it
was not always to be seen, as it was kept during the day fastened up
in one of the little sleeping apartments at the back of a cage in the
Lion-house, and was let out only for about half an hour before the
Gardens closed. It was well worth stopping to see. As soon as the iron
door of its cell was raised, it would come out into the large cage with
a peculiarly sailor-like slouch, for owing to the shortness of its legs
its gait was quite different to that of an ordinary Cat, and altogether
less elegant. The expression of the face, too, was neither savage, nor
majestic, nor intelligent, but rather dull and stupid. It was fond of
assuming all sorts of queer attitudes. Brehm describes one as lying
prone on a thick branch placed in its cage, with all four legs hanging
down straight, two on each side of the branch, certainly a remarkable
position for an animal to assume of its own free will.
[Illustration: OCELOT.]
THE OCELOT.[25]
This extremely beautiful Cat (see previous page) is, like the Jaguar
and the Ounce, a native of America, where it is found throughout the
central part of the Continent, from Mexico and Texas on the north, to
the northern boundaries of Brazil on the south. Its musical name was
coined by Buffon as an abbreviation of its native Mexican appellation
Tlalocelotl.
The grey or tawny skin is marked by broadly-sweeping rows of
longitudinally elongated spots of large size, each consisting of a
black rim enclosing an area somewhat darker than the general ground
tint. The head is also beautifully striped, and the tail ringed black.
Altogether, the Ocelot is, in the matter of markings, second only to
the Clouded Tiger. It is about four feet long from the snout to the tip
of the tail, and its legs are rather short for its size.
“It is a very voracious animal, but at the same time timid. It rarely
attacks men. It is afraid of Dogs, and when pursued it makes off to
the woods and climbs a tree. There it remains, and even takes up its
abode to sleep and look out for game and cattle, upon which it darts
as soon as they are within range. It prefers the blood to the flesh,
and, in consequence, destroys a vast number of animals, for instead of
devouring them, it only quenches its thirst by sucking their blood.”[26]
Notwithstanding its cowardice, the Ocelot is a very savage animal.
Buffon mentions a pair of young ones in captivity, which, at the age of
three months, were sufficiently strong and cruel to kill and devour a
bitch who had been given them as a nurse. He further adds the curious
fact, that the male always kept the female in wonderful subjection,
so much so, that she was afraid even to attempt to eat until he was
completely satisfied.
[Illustration: MARBLED TIGER-CAT.]
THE MARBLED TIGER-CAT.[27]
“This prettily-marked Wild Cat (see previous page) has been found
in the Sikkim Himalayas, in the hilly regions of Assam, Burmah, and
Malaysia, extending into the islands of Java, at all events.” The head
and body together are from eighteen and a half to twenty-three inches
long, the tail fourteen to fifteen and a half inches. The ground-colour
of its hide is of a dingy tawny, “occasionally yellowish-grey, the
body with numerous elongate wavy, black spots, somewhat clouded or
marbled.” The tail is spotted and tipped with black, and the belly is
yellowish-white.
THE VIVERRINE CAT.[28]
“This large Tiger-Cat,” says Mr. Jerdon, “is found throughout Bengal,
up to the first of the South-eastern Himalayas, extending into Burma,
China, and Malaysia. I have not heard of its occurrence in Central
India, nor in the Carnatic; but it is tolerably common in Travancore
and Ceylon, extending up the Malabar coast as far as Mangalore. I have
had one killed close to my house at Tellicherry. In Bengal it inhabits
low, watery situations chiefly, and I have often got it upon the edge
of swampy thickets in Purneah. It is said to be common in the Terai
and marshy regions at the foot of the Himalayas, but apparently not
extending further west than Nepaul. Buchanan Hamilton remarks, ‘In the
neighbourhood of Calcutta it would seem to be common. It frequents
reeds near water; and, besides fish, preys upon _Ampullinæ_, _Unios_
(shell-fish), and various birds. It is a furious untamable creature,
remarkably beautiful, but has a very disagreeable smell.’ On this Mr.
Blyth observes, ‘I have not remarked the latter, though I have had
several big toms quite tame, and even found this to be a particularly
tamable species. A newly-caught male killed a tame young Leopardess of
mine about double his size.’ The Rev. Mr. Baker, writing of its habits
in Malabar, says that it often kills Pariah Dogs; and that he has known
instances of slave children (infants) being taken from their huts by
this Cat; also young calves.”
[Illustration: SKULL OF VIVERRINE CAT.
_a._ The bony bar formed by the union of the frontal and jugal
bones which complete the orbit behind.]
Notwithstanding its ferocity this is by no means a large animal, being
only thirty to forty-four inches long, without the tail, which is ten
and a half to twelve and a half inches in length. “The ears are rather
small and blunt; the pupil circular; the fur coarse and without any
gloss; the limbs short and very strong.” The snout is narrow, and drawn
out like that of a Civet, hence the name _Viverrina_. The colour is
grey, lighter beneath, and banded and spotted with black. There is a
very noticeable peculiarity in the skull, from the fact that the orbit,
or bony cavity in which the eye is lodged, is completed behind by bone,
a character quite exceptional among Cats, and indeed among, Carnivora
generally.
A very fine specimen was brought over by the Prince of Wales after his
visit to India, and deposited in the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s
Park.
THE PAMPAS CAT.[29]
This animal, as its name implies, is found on the Pampas of South
America, extending as far south as the Strait of Magellan, and being
especially abundant in the region of the Rio Negro. It is about forty
inches long, with a shortish tail and long fur: the hairs, indeed,
sometimes attain a length of four or five inches. “The colour of the
skin is a pale yellowish-grey, traversed by regularly disposed yellow
or brown bands, which run obliquely from the back and the flanks. The
hairs, considered separately, are brown at the root, then yellow, and
finally black at the point, but those of the hinder part of the back
are black at the root, then grey, then yellowish-white, and finally
white up to the point, which is black.”
The Pampas Cat is a comparatively harmless beast, not preying upon
poultry-yards, but confining itself to the small Mammals which abound
in the South American steppes.
THE LONG-TAILED TIGER-CAT.[30]
This little-known form--the “Oceloid Leopard” as it is sometimes
called--was discovered by Prince Maximilian of Neuwied, in Brazil,
where it inhabits the great forests, and is often killed for the sake
of its beautiful fur. In colour it is not unlike the Ocelot, in size
it is inferior to it, and its longitudinally elongated spots are
neither so large nor so well marked. It is chiefly distinguished from
other forms by its long bushy tail, and its big staring eyes. It is
considerably smaller than the preceding species, the body being about
twenty-seven inches long, the tail fourteen.
[Illustration: LONG-TAILED TIGER-CAT.]
THE MARGAY.[31]
This is also an American species, being found in Brazil and Guiana,
where it is often known as the “Tiger-Cat.” It is much smaller than the
Ocelot--little larger than the Domestic Cat, in fact--the body being
about twenty-three inches long, and the tail thirteen, and resembles
the Ocelot in general appearance (see next page). Its spots are,
however, smaller, and more regularly arranged, so that it is by no
means so handsome an animal as _F. pardalis_.
It lives in the woods, and destroys an immense amount of small game
and birds. It is a savage beast, but is capable of domestication, and
may be put to good use as a mouser; it can never, however, be quite
trusted, and always keeps up a more or less ferocious appearance.
Still, it must be remembered that, in common with a large proportion
of the wild _Felidæ_, it has never had a fair chance of showing its
milder virtues. The Cats, almost without exception, are savage in the
extreme, and practically untamable when caught in the adult state, but
Mr. Bartlett informs us that there is hardly one of the group that may
not be thoroughly domesticated, if taken young and properly treated.
THE COLOCOLO.[32]
This is another Central American Tiger-Cat, of equal ferocity with the
last, but far less beautiful. The fur is rougher; the ground-colour
is tawny; the spots are smaller than in the Ocelot, and not so
exquisitely arranged. The whole body is some forty-one inches long, of
which the tail takes up about fourteen.
The Colocolo is an extremely ferocious animal, and does great harm in
the forests in which it lives, where, amongst other things, it feeds
largely on Monkeys. “On the banks of a river in Guiana, an officer,
having killed one of these Cats, stuffed it, and placed it to dry
in the hinder part of the boat in which he was travelling. One day
they passed under some great trees, the branches of which, hanging
into the water, formed a resting-place for innumerable Monkeys, which
approached the boat with great curiosity, and seemed to take pleasure
in following it as far as the trees would permit. On this particular
voyage, the Monkeys ran towards the boat as usual, but the sight of
the stuffed fur inspired them with such terror that they precipitately
took flight, uttering cries of rage and terror. This observation shows
clearly enough that Monkeys look upon the Colocolo as one of their most
terrible enemies.”[33]
[Illustration: MARGAY.]
THE JAGUARONDI.[34]
This is a curious, long-bodied, short-legged animal (see next page),
with a body almost as lithe and lissom as a Weasel’s. Like the Puma’s,
its head is small and well shaped, and its tail long; but it is a much
smaller animal, not exceeding three feet in length, including the tail.
Its colour is a dark grey-brown, “each hair being greyish-black, very
dark at the root, and entirely black between the root and the point,
which is of a dark-grey hue. This diversity of colour causes the
Jaguarondi to appear darker or lighter according to circumstances,”
that is, according to whether, being in a placid condition, his hair is
lying smooth and flat on the body, or whether, being excited, he erects
it.
The Jaguarondi lives in the thick forests of Brazil, Paraguay, and
Guiana, where it always prefers the most impenetrable thickets, and is
never seen in the open country. It lives upon birds and small Mammals,
having a special fondness for fowls, which no amount of training will
ever diminish. Even when a domesticated Jaguarondi is chained up in
a yard, it will “try a thousand shifts” to entice the fowls into its
neighbourhood, and will then suddenly leap on and devour them.
THE EYRA.[35]
This is by far the most beautiful of all the smaller one-coloured
Cats (see next page). The beauty of its rich chestnut hide, and the
extreme elegance of its form, quite incline one to assign to it the
palm for beauty, even in presence of such splendidly-marked forms as
the Ocelot. The specimen in the London Zoological Gardens is a most
delightful animal. It is slightly smaller than an ordinary Cat, and
much less in height, owing to the shortness of its legs, in comparison
with which the body is of great length; so that one at first sight
instinctively compares it with a Weasel, to which, however, it has
really no relationship whatever. Its neck is long, its head small, and
curiously flattened from above downwards, almost like an Otter’s, and
its tail long and well shaped. Its movements are almost Snake-like,
so continuously does it twist and turn its long lithe body. In its
sanguinary habits and mode of life it does not differ in any important
respect from the Jaguarondi, with which it also agrees in its
geographical distribution. It is, however, a much rarer animal.
[Illustration: JAGUARONDI.]
Mr. Bartlett informs us that he has kept the Eyra in his house, and
that it made a most charming pet. Brehm also mentions two domesticated
individuals which were on very good terms with the Cats and Dogs in the
house, and were particularly friendly with a Monkey, who did them the
kind office of catching their fleas.
THE SERVAL.[36]
The Serval, or African Tiger-Cat, is found over the greater part of
Africa, being specially abundant in the south, but extending also as
far north as Algeria. It especially frequents the extensive grassy
plains or steppes, where it lives upon Antelopes and other game.
Its legs are proportionally much longer and the tail much shorter than
those of most of the true Cats, in which respects it approaches the
Lynxes. It is distinguished from these, however, by the absence of
tufts of hair on the ears. The body is about forty inches in length,
the tail about sixteen inches. This, it will be seen, by a comparison
with the dimensions given of the preceding kinds, shows a much smaller
proportion between the tail and the body than in most of the true Cats,
but the appendage is never as short as in a Lynx. The ground-colour
of the skin is tawny, lighter or darker according to circumstances,
and spotted with black. The spots on the flank are all elongated
longitudinally, and, along the back, run into distinct bands which
are continued on to the forehead. This running together of spots into
longitudinal stripes is very common in the Cat tribe. The tail is
regularly ringed with black. The fur, although coarse, is handsome, and
much used.
[Illustration: EYRA.]
THE RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT.[37]
Mr. Jerdon says, “This very pretty little Cat frequents grass in the
dry beds of tanks, brushwood, and occasionally drains in the open
country and near villages, and is said not to be a denizen of the
jungle. I had a kitten brought over when very young, and it became
quite tame, and was the delight and admiration of all who saw it. Its
activity was quite marvellous, and it was very playful and elegant in
its motions. When it was about eight months old, I introduced it into
a room where there was a small fawn of the Gazelle, and the little
creature flew at it the moment it saw it, seized it by the nape, and
was with difficulty taken off.” There is something marvellous in this
destroying instinct. This kitten had, probably, never seen a Gazelle
before in the whole course of its short life, but it at once recognised
its prey, and all the savagery of its long line of ancestors was
concentrated in the spring which landed it on the unlucky Gazelle’s
neck.
The head and body of this species are together sixteen to eighteen
inches long; the tail, nine inches and a half. The short, soft
fur is a greenish-grey, with a faint rufous tinge, and marked with
rusty-coloured spots, roundish on the sides, but, as usual, becoming
elongated in the direction of the animal’s length, on the back. It is
found in the Carnatic, and in the southern parts of Ceylon.
THE LEOPARD CAT.[38]
This is another of the numerous Indian Cats, and is a very beautiful
species. Its hide is of a yellowish-grey, or bright tawny hue, quite
white below, and marked with longitudinal stripes on the head,
shoulders, and back, and with large irregular spots on the sides,
which become rounded towards the belly. The tail is a spotted colour,
indistinctly ringed towards the tip. The body, from the end of the
snout to the tip of the tail, attains a length of from thirty-five to
thirty-nine inches, eleven or twelve of which are made up by the tail.
[Illustration: BAY CAT.]
“The Leopard Cat is found throughout the hilly region of India, from
the Himalayas to the extreme south, and Ceylon, and in richly-wooded
districts, at a low elevation occasionally, or when heavy jungle grass
is abundant, mixed with forest and brushwood. It ascends the Himalayas
to a considerable elevation, and is said by Hodgson even to occur in
Tibet, and is found at the level of the sea in the Bengal Sunderbunds.
It extends through Assam, Burmah, the Malayan peninsula, to the islands
of Java and Sumatra, at all events.”[39]
It is as fierce as any of its savage kin. “A shikarie declared that it
drops on large animals, and even on Deer” (remember that the animal is
only two feet long!) “and eats its way into the neck; that the animal
in vain endeavours to roll or shake it off, and at last is destroyed.”
In confinement it is extremely savage, and, curiously enough, “it
never paces its cage for exercise during the daytime, at least, but
constantly remains crouched in a corner, though awake and vigilant.”
THE BAY CAT.[40]
This animal (see figure on previous page) is found on the Gold Coast
of Africa, as well as in Nepaul, Sumatra, and Borneo. It is of a deep
bay-red colour above, becoming paler below: there are a few indistinct
dark spots on the hind legs, and the head is splendidly ornamented with
stripes of black, white, and orange, offering a striking contrast to
the uniform tint of the body, and reminding one strongly of the Tiger.
The head and body measure about thirty-one inches, the tail nineteen
inches.
Unfortunately nothing is known of the habits of this Cat, so that
we can only assume that it has the same savage nature and untamable
disposition as the members of its family most nearly allied to it.
THE SPOTTED WILD CAT.[41]
The habits of this Indian species differ a good deal from those of most
Wild Cats, for instead of living in forests and jungles, it frequents
“open, sandy plains, where the Field Rat must be its principal food. I
hardly ever remember seeing it in what could be called jungle, or even
in grass.”[42]
It is of a grey colour, spotted with black, and attains a length of
sixteen to eighteen inches, not including the tail, which measures ten
or eleven inches more. The ears are of a dull-reddish colour, and have
a small tuft of hair on the tip, thereby showing a relationship between
this Cat and the Lynxes.
THE MANUL.[43]
The Manul seems to replace the common Wild Cat in Northern Asia, where
it occurs on the steppes of Tartary and Siberia. It was discovered by
Pallas, who gives no account of its habits.
Its body is twenty-eight, its tail twelve inches long, so that it is
about the same length as the Wild Cat; it has, however, longer legs.
The skin contains a mixture of yellowish and of white hairs; the head
is striped, and the tail ringed with black.
THE EGYPTIAN CAT.[44]
This is an animal (see figure on next page) of great historic interest,
as its remains have been found embalmed in the Egyptian monuments. At
the present day it is found in Abyssinia and Egypt.
It is about the size of an average Domestic Cat, but has a longer
tail. The general colour is light tawny or yellowish-grey, with dark
transverse bands. The tail is tawny above, white below, and ringed only
at the termination.
THE COMMON WILD CAT.[45]
The Wild Cat exists in “all the wooded countries of Europe, Germany
especially, Russia, Hungary, the North of Asia, and Nepaul. This
animal is larger in cold climates, and its fur is there held in high
estimation. In Britain it was formerly plentiful, and was a beast of
chase, as we learn from Richard the Second’s Charter to the Abbot of
Peterborough, giving him permission to hunt the Hare, Fox, and Wild
Cat. The fur in those days does not seem to have been thought of much
value, for it is ordained in Archbishop Corboyl’s canons, A.D.
1127, that no abbess or nun should use more costly apparel than such as
is made of Lambs’ or Cats’ skins.
“The Wild Cat is now rarely found in the South of England, and even in
Cumberland and Westmoreland its numbers are very much reduced. In the
North of Scotland and Ireland it is still abundant.”
The average length of a full-grown male specimen is, from snout to root
of tail, about twenty-eight inches, the tail itself measuring about
thirteen inches. The soft thick fur is of a grey colour, inclining to
yellowish on the face, and being nearly white on the belly. There is a
black band along the middle of the back, from which numerous dark-grey
bands proceed in a transverse direction like the hoops of a barrel,
gradually dying away as they reach the belly. The thick tail is ringed
with grey and black.
“The Wild Cat leads a solitary life; at most, two individuals are seen
together. It even appears that the occupant of one district prevents
access to it of any others. Its life is completely nocturnal, and has
much analogy with that of the Lynx and of our own Domestic Cat. It
climbs well, and mounts trees, either as a resting-place, or to escape
from an enemy when there is no hole in which it can hide. Under this
circumstance it ‘plays ’possum’ to the best of its ability, keeping
close to a large branch, the colour of which, harmonising with that of
its skin, contributes to conceal it from view. It does not commence
its hunting operations until night has set in; and, in surprising the
bird in its nest, the sitting Hare, the Rabbit in its burrow, and even
the Squirrel on its tree, it displays a cunning unsurpassed by any of
its tribe. When the quarry is a small animal, it leaps on its back and
severs its carotids with its sharp teeth. It never pursues an animal
which it has failed to reach at the first onslaught, but prefers to
go in search of new prey; in a word, it has all the characters of a
true Cat. Happily for hunters, its principal nutriment consists of
Mice and small birds. It is only by accident that it seeks for larger
animals; it is, however, certain that it sometimes attacks Fawns or
small Roes. It keeps watch by the banks of lakes and streams for
fish and birds, both of which it knows full well how to seize. It is
extremely destructive in parks, and, above all, in covers, which it
utterly depopulates in a very short time. Considering its size, the
Wild Cat is a very dangerous Carnivore, its sanguinary nature inciting
it to kill far more animals than it can possibly eat. For this reason
all hunters detest it, and pursue it with perfect hatred. But no one
seems to remember the services it renders to man in destroying small
Rodents, and yet these services are undoubted. Tschudi relates that the
remains of twenty-six Mice have been found in the stomach of a single
individual of this species.”[46]
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN CAT.]
This interesting account shows how little difference there is between
the habits and the nature of this little wild beast of Great Britain
and its big cousins of the African and Indian jungles. In its nocturnal
habits, its mode of attack, its bloodthirstiness, and its wanton
cruelty, it is just the Tiger over again on a small scale, only less
harmful because less powerful. Some idea of its immense strength may be
gathered from the fact that it is known to have actually killed men.
In some places the Wild Cat is regularly hunted, usually in winter,
when the tracks in the snow are easily followed. The sport has the
necessary element of danger to no ordinary degree, for the terrible
little beast, if wounded, makes straight for the hunter, and attacks
him with tooth and claw, and such teeth and such claws are by no means
pleasant things to be wounded with. On the whole, we have hardly reason
to be sorry that the race is almost extinct in Great Britain.
[Illustration: COMMON WILD CAT.]
THE DOMESTIC CAT.[47]
This animal--_the Cat par excellence_--is, next to the Dog, the
flesh-eater which possesses for us the greatest personal interest,
as it is, with the exception of the Dog, almost the only quadruped
regularly admitted into the society of man, eating from his hand,
drinking from his cup, and being to him, if not a firm friend, like
its canine relative, at least a comfortable, contented companion,
adding greatly by its look of calm repose and its contented purr to the
cosiness of the fireside.
The origin of the Domestic Cat is so far distant that it is quite
uncertain from what wild species it was derived. It is not once
mentioned in the Bible, a very curious circumstance, as it was well
known in Egypt, and it might have been expected that it would be
named, with the Dog, among the unclean animals. Cats “are mentioned in
a Sanskrit writing 2,000 years old, and in Egypt their antiquity is
known to be even greater, as shown by monumental drawings and their
mummied bodies.” From many circumstances it seems probable that the
Cat had, like the Dog, a multiple origin, that is, was produced by the
commingling of several wild forms. It is certain that our Domestic Cats
will breed freely with many of their feral brethren, such as the Common
Wild Cat, the Chaus, Viverrine, and Rusty-spotted Cats, &c.
Wherever the Cat is found as a domesticated animal it is held in great
esteem. This feeling was carried to its greatest extent by the ancient
Egyptians, whose devotion to their pets was such that, according to
Herodotus, when a fire broke out, they cared for nothing but the
safety of their Cats, and were terribly afflicted if one of them fell
a victim to the flames. On the death of a Cat, the inhabitants of the
house shaved off their eyebrows, and the deceased animal was embalmed,
and buried with great solemnity in a sacred spot. Many Cat mummies
have been found in the Egyptian tombs, and some are to be seen in the
British Museum, together with similarly preserved specimens of human
beings, and of sacred Calves. Some individuals were wrapped separately
in ample bandages covered with inscriptions; others of a less degree of
sanctity were preserved in numbers with a single wrapping for several.
Their movements and their cries were consulted as oracles, and the
murder, or even the accidental felicide of one of them, was punished by
death.
[Illustration: TEETH OF DOMESTIC CAT.]
The earliest account of the Cat in Britain is as far back as
A.D. 948. “That excellent prince _Howel Dha_, or _Howel the
Good_, did not think it beneath him, among his laws relating to the
prices, &c., of animals, to include that of the Cat, and to describe
the qualities it ought to have. The price of a kitling, before it
could see, was to be a penny; till it caught a Mouse, twopence. It was
required, besides, that it should be perfect in its senses of hearing
and seeing, be a good mouser, have the claws whole, and be a good
nurse; but if it failed in any of these qualities, the seller was to
forfeit to the buyer the third part of its value. If any one stole or
killed the Cat that guarded the prince’s granary, he was to forfeit a
milch ewe, its fleece, and lamb, or as much wheat as, when poured on
the Cat, suspended by its tail (the head touching the floor), would
form a heap high enough to cover the tip of the former. This last
quotation is not only curious as being an evidence of the simplicity of
ancient manners, but it almost proves to demonstration that Cats are
not aborigines of these islands, or known to the earliest inhabitants.
The large prices set on them, if we consider the high value of
specimens at that time, and the great care taken of the improvement and
breed of an animal that multiplies so fast, are almost certain proofs
of their being little known at that period.”[48] Moreover, as the Wild
Cat was abundant in Britain at this or at more recent periods, it is
tolerably certain that this species is not the parent of our domestic
kinds.
[Illustration: MUMMY OF EGYPTIAN CAT.]
Little need be said about the anatomy of the Cat, for it differs but
slightly from its larger relatives, and hardly at all from the smaller
wild species. The skull is smooth, and has its ridges less developed
than in the great beasts of prey; the orbits are very large, and the
nose-region is extremely short, and forms a continuous curve with the
forehead. Owing to these two latter circumstances the Cat is extremely
round-faced, more so, perhaps, than any other species of the genus.
[Illustration: SKELETON OF DOMESTIC CAT.]
One curious point of structure is to be found in the intestines, which
“are wider, and a third longer, than in Wild Cats of the same size.”
There can be little doubt that this has been brought about by the fact
that the food of a domesticated flesh-eater is certain to be somewhat
miscellaneous, and not of the strictly carnivorous nature preferred by
the animal in its wild state.
The varieties in colour exhibited by the Cat are very great, and often
kittens in the same litter will differ greatly in this respect. “The
normal colour,” according to Dr. Gray, “seems to be that of the Tabby
Cat, grey, with black dorsal streaks and sub-concentric bands on the
sides and thighs; sometimes all black from melanism, or grey, blue,
yellow, or white, or these colours more or less mixed. When black,
white, and yellow, it is called Tortoiseshell, or Spanish Cat. The fur
varies greatly in length; it is very short, close, and almost erect
from the skin in the Rabbit Cats. It is very long, silky, and fluffy
in the Angora (or Angola) Cat. The tail is usually long. It is very
short or almost entirely wanting in the Isle of Man Cats, or the Japan
Cats of Kæmpfer. The ears are generally erect; but they are sometimes
pendulous in the Chinese Cats.”
With regard to the colour of Cats, a very curious circumstance has been
observed, namely, that White Cats with blue eyes are nearly always
deaf! The only rational explanation of this remarkable phenomenon is
that suggested by Mr. Wallace, namely, that the absence of colour
in the skin is usually accompanied by a similar absence of pigment
elsewhere, and it has been shown that the presence of a peculiar black
pigment is very essential to the proper action of the sense organs. To
bear out this view it may be stated that _Albinos_--that is, abnormally
colourless animals--are usually deficient in taste, smell, and sight.
The eye also varies much in colour, being blue, yellow, or green. The
pupil, or small black aperture in the centre of the coloured portion,
is extremely sensitive, dilating greatly in the dark, and contracting
to a mere line when the light is strong.
We have already mentioned the skin-muscle, or thin band of flesh lying
immediately under the skin, and by means of which the shivering of the
skin, the erection or rendering vertical of hairs, &c., is performed.
The latter effect--an effect seen on a small scale in ourselves as
“goose-skin”--is well seen in the Cat, for the animal invariably
makes its hair stand on end when it is angry or alarmed, and so makes
itself look as large and terrible as possible. In the manner of using
this muscle, as well as in many other matters, the Cat resembles in a
remarkable degree the great beasts of prey, and forms a capital study
of feline expression. Every one must have noticed the instantaneous
change in the whole demeanour of a Cat when it catches sight of a
strange Dog. This and other characteristic attitudes are well described
by Mr. Darwin.[49]
“When this animal is threatened by a Dog it arches its back in a
surprising manner, erects its hair, opens its mouth, and spits.” This
well-known attitude “is expressive of terror combined with anger. Anger
alone is not often seen, but may be observed when two Cats are fighting
together; and I have seen it well exhibited by a savage Cat whilst
plagued by a boy. The attitude is almost exactly the same as that of a
Tiger disturbed, and growling over its food, which every one must have
beheld in menageries. The animal assumes a crouching position, with
the body extended; and the whole tail, or the tip alone, is lashed or
curled from side to side. The hair is not in the least erect. Thus far,
the attitude and movements are nearly the same as when the animal is
prepared to spring on its prey, and when, no doubt, it feels savage.
But when preparing to fight, there is this difference, that the ears
are closely pressed backwards; the mouth is partially opened, showing
the teeth; the fore-feet are occasionally struck out with protruded
claws, and the animal occasionally utters a fierce growl. Let us now
look at a Cat in a directly opposite frame of mind, whilst feeling
affectionate and caressing her master, and mark how opposite is her
attitude in every respect. She now stands upright with her back
slightly arched, which makes the hair appear rather rough, but it does
not bristle. Her tail, instead of being extended and lashed from side
to side, is held quite stiff and perpendicularly upwards; her ears are
erect and pointed; her mouth is closed, and she rubs against her master
with a purr instead of a growl. Let it further be observed how widely
different is the whole bearing of an affectionate Cat from that of a
Dog, when, with his body crouching and flexuous, his tail lowered and
Wagging, and ears depressed, he caresses his master.
“We can understand why the attitude assumed by a Cat when preparing
to fight with another Cat, or in any way greatly irritated, is so
widely different from that of a Dog approaching another with hostile
intentions; for the Cat uses her fore-feet for striking, and this
renders a crouching position convenient or necessary. She is also much
more accustomed than a Dog to lie concealed and suddenly spring on
her prey. No cause can be assigned with certainty for the tail being
lashed or curled from side to side. This habit is common to many other
animals, for instance, to the Puma, when prepared to spring; but it is
not common to Dogs or to Foxes.”
Under ordinary circumstances, when neither attacking a foe nor
caressing a friend, the Cat is the very image of lazy content. As she
sits by the fire, softly purring, and occasionally licking her paws
and rubbing them over her face, she seems an embodiment of repose,
an incarnation of _otium cum dignitate_, a standing discourse on the
advisability of
“Holding it ever the wisest thing
To drive dull care away.”
[Illustration: DOMESTIC CAT.]
But notwithstanding its usual indolence, the Cat, like all its
congeners, is capable of very violent action upon occasions. This is
more especially the case with kittens, who are, perhaps, the most
delightful of all young animals: the most elegant, the most active, the
most restless, the most overboiling with life and spirits. Who has not
watched a kitten play? No matter what its toy may be; it is content
with anything movable--a ball, a piece of string, a lady’s dress, the
fallen leaves in the garden--anything and everything she will play
with, and as she plays, “grace is in all her steps,” every movement
of her head, every pat of her velvet paw, every whisk of her little
tail, is elegance itself. Even in the old Cat this wonderful power
of executing the most rapid movements with almost the quickness of
thought is rather in abeyance than actually absent; she can still run,
leap to many times her own height, climb a tree or a vertical wall by
means of her sharp claws, and perform other marvellous gymnastic feats
impossible to anything else but a Squirrel or a Monkey.
[Illustration: ANGORA KITTENS.]
The sense which of all others is most deficient in the Cat is that
of smell. In this she differs most markedly from the Dog. It is said
that a piece of meat may be placed in close proximity to a Cat, but
that, if it is kept covered up, she will fail to distinguish it. This
want is, however, partly compensated for by an extremely delicate
sense of touch, which is possessed, to a remarkable extent, by the
whiskers, or vibrissæ, as well as by the general surface of the skin.
These bristles, as we have already mentioned in speaking of the Tiger,
are possessed to a greater or less extent by all Cats, and are simply
greatly developed hairs, having enormously swollen roots, covered with
a layer of muscular fibres, with which delicate nerves are connected.
By means of these latter, the slightest touch on the extremity of the
whiskers is instantly transmitted to the brain. These organs are of the
greatest possible value to the Cat in its nocturnal campaigns. When it
is deprived of the guidance afforded by light it makes its way by the
sense of touch, the fine whiskers touching against every object the Cat
passes, and thus acting in precisely the same manner as a blind man’s
stick, though with infinitely greater sensibility. Imagine a blind
man with not one stick, but a couple of dozen, of exquisite fineness,
and these not held in his hand, but embedded in his skin, so that his
nerves come into direct contact with them instead of having a layer of
skin between, and some notion may be formed of the way in which a Cat
uses its whiskers.
But the Cat in its night walks has a further advantage over the blind
man, namely, that except on the very darkest nights, it is not entirely
deprived of the power of sight, for, as we have already mentioned, the
pupil is so constructed that in the dark it can be dilated, so as to
catch every available ray of light, and, moreover, the _tapetum_, or
brilliant lining of the eyeball, reflects and magnifies the straggling
beams, and so enables the Cat, if not actually to “see in the dark,” as
is sometimes stated, at least to distinguish objects in an amount of
light so small as to be inappreciable to our duller vision.
As we have already mentioned, the Domestic Cat is less strictly
carnivorous than the wild _Felidæ_: still it prefers meat or milk to
anything else, and is by no means a miscellaneous feeder, like the
Dog. In the matter of diet, Gilbert White remarks[50]--“There is a
propensity belonging to common house Cats that is very remarkable. I
mean their violent fondness for fish, which appears to be their most
favourite food; and yet Nature in this instance seems to have implanted
in them an appetite that, unassisted, they know not how to gratify;
for, of all quadrupeds, Cats are the least disposed towards water, and
will not, when they can avoid it, deign to wet a foot, much less to
plunge in that element.” Mr. White does not seem to have known of the
habits of the Jaguar.
A curious instance of the selection of their food by Cats and Dogs is
given by the same author:--“As my neighbour was housing a rick, he
observed that his Dogs devoured all the little red Mice that they could
catch, but rejected the common Mice; and that his Cats ate the common
Mice, refusing the red.”
This may be partly accounted for by the fact that the little Harvest
Mouse has scarcely any trace of the odour which makes the domestic kind
disagreeable, and which odour is not disliked, or perhaps is hardly
perceived, by the Cat. Both Dogs and Cats, when the corn-ricks are
being housed for threshing, will go on helping the farmer and his men
for hours, killing Mice by hundreds and by thousands long after they
have been satiated by eating them. These Mouse _battues_ illustrate the
intelligence of the Cat as well as of the Dog, in a quick understanding
of what relates to their own interest; for they know immediately what
the removal of the thatch from the rick means, and, as it were, scent
their prey before it is unearthed. Yet the food-treasures in these
ricks are not unknown to the Cats, who night by night for months,
perhaps, have caught and regaled themselves upon stragglers from the
swarm.
But although of most domestic Cats it may be said,
“Rats and Mice, and such small deer,
Have been _Tom’s_ food for many a year,”
yet, in districts that have the game well “preserved,” this sort of
diet is often exchanged for that of nobler prey, and the tame Cat will
stray for months from the homesteads for young Rabbits, Leverets, and
the Partridge covey. This poaching is almost sure to end in death, as
these Cats are closely watched by the keepers.
One curious thing about these poaching habits is that they run in
families. As Mr. Darwin says, one Cat “naturally takes to catching
Rats, and another Mice, and these tendencies are known to be inherited.
One Cat, according to Mr. St. John, always brought home game birds,
another Hares or Rabbits, and another hunted on marshy ground, and
almost nightly caught Woodcocks or Snipes.”
A Cat who has once taken to habits like these soon loses her taste for
human society and a comfortable fireside, and becomes quite wild and
almost as untamable as one of the actually feral species. Many years
ago, in a village where we were then living, a female half-wild Cat
made furtive visits to an old and extensive farmstead for the sake of
the dove-cot Pigeons, and for the safer rearing of her young. These she
would deposit, not in-doors, like our tame, pet Cats, but generally in
the fagot-stack, and once in a corner of the thick house-thatch, in
which was a labyrinth of passages made by the grey Rat. This Cat would
form no friendship with us, but made almost demoniacal demonstrations
of her combined hatred and fear. Her swearing and her spitting were
accomplishments learned by her kittens as soon as they could see, and
no care of ours could tame them.
One of the most remarkable things about the Cat is its habit of always
burying its excrement, whether solid or liquid. A Cat living in the
house is easily trained to leave the premises for this purpose, and
will always be found to cover her droppings with earth; but even young,
untrained Cats of dirty habits, who cannot be kept from occasionally
defiling the house, will invariably try to hide their sin by scraping
up cinders, &c., over it, or will, at any rate, make vigorous scratches
at the carpet, in their endeavours to get up some of it for the same
purpose. How a habit of this sort can have originated in an animal
living in the woods, as do all the Cats when in a wild state, is a
puzzle.
Like most of the Carnivora, the Cat is a tender and affectionate
mother; the care with which she trains her young ones, her anxiety for
their comfort, her industry in washing them, are too well known to
require remark. So fond is she of her offspring that she will entirely
alter her usual habits to regain lost ones. Mr. Hugh Miller, F.G.S.,
tells us of a Cat belonging to a clergyman in Northumberland, whose
kittens were taken from her and given to a miller living at a distance
of fully two miles, quite beyond the usual walk of a home-loving puss.
The mother, however, although she had never been to the place before,
and could by no possibility have known where her kittens were taken,
made two successive journeys to the mill, each time bringing back in
triumph to the rectory one of her dear ones.
So strong is the maternal instinct in the Cat that she will, if
deprived of her own offspring, bestow her affections on animals of a
totally different species, on creatures even, which, under ordinary
circumstances, she would look upon as her natural and lawful prey. The
following is a remarkable instance of this overpowering mother-love:--
“My friend had a little helpless Leveret brought to him, which the
servants fed with milk in a spoon, and about the same time his Cat had
kittens, which were despatched and buried. The Hare was soon lost,
and was supposed to be gone the way of most foundlings, to be killed
by some Dog or Cat. However, in about a fortnight, as the master was
sitting in his garden in the dusk of evening, he observed his Cat, with
tail erect, trotting towards him, and calling, with little, short,
inward notes of complacency, such as they use towards their kittens,
and something gambolling after, which proved to be the Leveret that the
Cat had supported with her milk, and continued to support with great
affection.”[51]
Thus was a graminivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and
predaceous one! Why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as a Cat, of the
ferocious genus _Felis_, the _Murium Leo_ (Lion of the Mice), as
Linnæus calls it, should be affected with any tenderness towards an
animal which is its natural prey, is not so easy to determine. This
incident is no bad solution of that strange circumstance which grave
historians, as well as the poets, assert of exposed children being
sometimes nurtured by wild beasts that probably had lost their young.
For it is not one whit more marvellous that Romulus and Remus, in their
infant state, should be nursed by a she-Wolf, than that a poor little
suckling Leveret should be fostered and cherished by a Cat.
White, in his “Observations,” has another similar anecdote. “A boy has
taken three little young Squirrels in their nest, or eyry, as it is
called in these parts. These small creatures he put under the care of
a Cat who had lately lost her kittens, and finds that she nurses and
suckles them with the same assiduity and affection as if they were
her own offspring. This circumstance corroborates my suspicion that
the mention of exposed and deserted children being nurtured by female
beasts of prey who had lost their young, may not be so improbable an
incident as many have supposed; and, therefore, may be a justification
of those authors who have gravely mentioned what some have deemed to
be a wild and improbable story. So many people went to see the little
Squirrels suckled by a Cat, that the foster-mother became jealous of
her charge, and in pain for their safety, and therefore hid them over
the ceiling, where one died. This circumstance showed her affection for
these foundlings, and that she supposed the Squirrels to be her own
young.”
Equally remarkable as an instance of the transference of maternal
affection is the tale of the Cat whose kittens were replaced by two
out of the five pups belonging to a Spaniel. The Cat brought up her
foster children so well, that they were able to run about long before
the three left under the charge of their own natural mother. Before
long they were removed, and the Cat was inconsolable, until, one day,
coming across the Spaniel and her pups, she concluded that the latter
were her own lost darlings, and in her eagerness to get them engaged
in two successive fights with the Spaniel, in each of which she was
victorious, and after each of which she carried away a pup to her own
premises, thus getting again, as she thought, her own two children, and
the Spaniel being obliged to content herself with one.
This last anecdote is also remarkable because of the wonderful
instinctive antipathy existing between Dogs and Cats, an antipathy
which is one of the most curious instances of inherited instinct, for
a young kitten, who has never seen a Dog in its life will, on being
approached by one, put up its back, and swear and spit with all the
force of feline Billingsgate. It is only after living in the same house
with a Dog for some time that a Cat will become reconciled to him, but
when she once gets to tolerate his presence, the two often become very
good friends.
The most astonishing tale we have met with, with respect to their
intelligence and sensibility, is one by Mr. C. H. Ross. He states that
a Cat in his possession “would climb upon the top of the piano, and,
sitting close underneath the picture” of a Bulldog, “fix its eyes upon
the Dog’s face, and, putting back its ears, remain there, with a wild
and terrified expression, for as long as an hour at a time,” and this,
too, while there were two living Dogs in the house with whom she was on
perfectly good terms. This is extraordinary enough, for it is usually
stated that animals do not recognise pictures unless they are coloured,
and the illustration in question was an engraving. But the queerest
part of the story is yet to come. “During the time that he noticed
this conduct on the Cat’s part, she was with kitten, and when the four
kittens were born they were dead, and one of them, strange to say, had
a Bull-dog-shaped head, marked almost exactly like the picture!”
Instances are not wanting in which Cats have formed friendships with
birds--creatures which, as a rule, they look upon as their natural
prey. One example of an affection of this sort is extremely curious.
A Cat and a Canary had acquired a great fondness for one another. The
Canary used to perch on the Cat’s back and play all sorts of pranks
with it. One day their master saw, with horror, the feline Damon rush
upon his passerine Pythias and seize it in his mouth. He naturally
thought that at last nature had triumphed over grace, but on looking
round saw that another Cat had entered the room, to whose tender
mercies the bird-lover would by no means trust his little friend.
Like its natural enemy the Dog, the Cat is sometimes afflicted with
_rabies_, or madness. Mr. Youatt, a great authority on the subject,
says:--“Fortunately for us this does not often occur; for a mad Cat
is a truly ferocious animal. I have seen two cases, one of them to my
cost; yet I am unable to give any satisfactory account of the progress
of the disease. The first stage seems to be one of sullenness, and
which would probably last to death; but from that sullenness it is
dangerous to rouse the animal. It probably would not, except in the
paroxysm of rage, attack any one; but during that paroxysm it has no
fear, nor has its ferocity any bounds.
“A Cat that had been the inhabitant of a nursery, and the playmate of
the children, had all at once become sullen and ill-tempered. It had
taken refuge in an upper room, and could not be coaxed from the corner
in which it had crouched. It was nearly dark when I went. I saw the
horrible glare of her eyes, but I could not see so much of her as I
wished, and I said that I would call again in the morning. I found the
patient on the following day precisely in the same situation and the
same attitude, crouched up in a corner, and ready to spring. I was very
much interested in the case; and as I wanted to study the countenance
of this demon, for she looked like one, I was foolishly, inexcusably
imprudent. I went on my hands and knees, and brought my face nearly on
a level with hers, and gazed on those glaring eyes and that horrible
countenance, until I seemed to feel the deathly influence of a spell
stealing over me. I was not afraid, but every mental and bodily power
was, in a manner, suspended. My countenance, perhaps, alarmed her, for
she sprang on me, fastened herself on my face, and bit through both
my lips. She then darted down-stairs, and, I believe, was never seen
again. I always have nitrate of silver in my pocket; even now I am
never without it. I washed myself and applied the caustic with some
severity to the wound; and my medical adviser and valued friend, Mr.
Millington, punished me still more after I got home. My object was
attained, although at somewhat too much cost, for the expression of
that brute’s countenance will never be forgotten.”
[Illustration: DOMESTIC CATS--A STUDY.]
Except as fur-bearing animals, Cats are made no direct use of, save as
Mouse and Rat-catchers. In this capacity they are quite invaluable,
for these destructive little Rodents increase and multiply to such an
extent, that if it was not for some such check as that afforded by
the presence of a good mouser, many places would be as much overrun,
and the inhabitants put to as much inconvenience, as were the people
amongst whom Dick Whittington’s lot was cast. With regard to the number
of these plagues of which a single Cat can rid the neighbourhood, it is
stated by M. Lenz, as a well-ascertained fact, that a Cat of ordinary
size is fully capable of catching and eating twenty Mice a day, or
7,300 a year! Besides Rats and Mice, they are fond of insects, such as
Cockroaches; and in some countries, such as Paraguay, they are found to
be of great value in killing Serpents, which, however, they are said
never to eat, slaying them by repeated dexterous blows of the paw,
simply for the sport.
The Domestic Cat is found wherever civilised man exists. It occurs
throughout Europe and Asia, and has spread largely in America and
Australia since the discovery of these continents by Europeans. The
best-marked variety of the species is the beautiful Angora Cat, which
is larger than the ordinary Cat, and covered with long fine hair,
usually snow-white. The Manx Cat, native only in the Isle of Man, is
distinguished by the very remarkable character of being tailless, or,
at least, that appendage is quite rudimentary. In other respects, it
does not differ from the ordinary varieties. The Persian Cat is a very
fine variety often seen in English drawing-rooms; its hair is long,
though nothing like so long as that of the Angora. It is a remarkably
lazy beast, and far less interesting than the ordinary kind.
The Chinese Cat has also long silky fur and pendent ears, and is
regularly fattened and eaten. Mr. Swinhoe gives a curious quotation
about this animal from the _Hainan Gazetteer_. “‘_Lino_’ (or _Domestic
Cat_) ‘cannot endure Fleas or Lice on its skin. Cats that have nine
holes inside the mouth will catch Rats the four seasons through.’”
What the Chinese _Gazetteer_ means by the _nine holes_ is difficult to
imagine. Is it not a celestial piece of hyperbole for a Cat with a good
large gullet?--just as we speak of their tenacity of life by saying
that they have _nine lives_--thus our Cat has nine lives, and the
Chinese Rat-catcher has _nine throats_.