This animal, which was kept alive several years in the royal menagerie,
by name of the _tiger-cat_, seems to be the same with that described by
the gentlemen of the Academy, under the denomination of _chat-pard_;
and we should have still remained ignorant of its true name if the
Marquis de Montmirail had not discovered it in an Italian book of
travels which he has translated, and sent the following extract: "The
_maraputé_, which the Portugueze in India, called _serval_ (says P.
Vincent-Marie) is a ferocious animal, larger than the wild cat, and
something less than the civet, from which last he differs by his head
being rounder and thicker, and his face sinking in about the middle.
He resembles the panther in the colour of his hair, which is yellow
on the head, back, and sides, and white under the belly; also by the
spots, which are distinct, equally distributed, and a little less than
those of the panther. His eyes are very brilliant; his whiskers are
composed of long and stiff bristles; his tail is short; his feet large,
and armed with long and hooked claws. He is found in the mountains of
India; he is seldom seen on the ground, but remains almost continually
on high trees, where he catches birds, which are his principal food.
He leaps as nimbly as a monkey, and goes from one tree to another with
such address and agility and passes over a great space in so short a
time, that he may be said only to appear and disappear; he is ferocious
in his nature, but flees at the sight of man, unless irritated, or
his nest attacked, when he flies at the offender, and bites and tears
nearly like the panther."
Neither captivity, nor good nor bad treatment, will tame or soften the
ferocity of this animal. That which we saw in the menagerie was always
ready to rush on those who came near him: we could neither take a
design nor a description of him, otherwise than betwixt the bars of his
cage. He was fed with flesh, like the panther and leopard. This serval,
or maraputé of Malabar and India, seems to be the same animal as the
tiger-cat of Senegal and the Cape of Good Hope, which, according to the
testimony of travellers, resembles our cat in its shape, and the tiger
(that is the panther or leopard) by the black and white spots of his
fur. "This animal (say they) is four times larger than a cat; is of a
very voracious nature, and feeds on monkeys, rats, and other animals."
From the comparison which we made of the serval and the _chat pard_,
described by the gentlemen of the Academy, we discovered no other
difference than the long spots on the back, and the rings on the tail
of the latter, which the serval has not. The spots on the back of the
serval are closer than those on the other parts of his body; but these
little disagreements are so slight that we cannot doubt of the identity
of the species of these two animals.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._
[Illustration: FIG. 180. _Ocelot._]
[Illustration: FIG. 181. _Jackal._]