_THE CAT TRIBE._
Though only one species is entirely domesticated, and none of the Cats have
flesh edible by man, except perhaps the puma, no group of animals has
attracted more interest than this. Containing more than forty species,
ranging in size from the ox-devouring tiger or lion to the small wild cats,
they are so alike in habit and structure that no one could possibly mistake
the type or go far wrong in guessing at the habits of any one of them. They
are all flesh-eaters and destroyers of living animals. All have rounded
heads, and an extraordinary equipment of teeth and of claws, and of muscles
to use them. The blow of the forearm of a lion or tiger is inconceivably
powerful, in proportion to its size. A stroke from a tiger's paw has been
known to strike off a native's arm from the shoulder and leave it hanging
by a piece of skin, and a similar blow from a lion to crush the skull of an
ox. The true cats are known by the power to draw back, or "retract," their
claws into sheaths of horn, rendering their footsteps noiseless, and
keeping these weapons always sharp. The hunting-leopard has only a partial
capacity for doing this.
[Illustration: _By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg._
AN UNWILLING PUPIL.
This is one of Herr Hagenbeck s famous performing tigers.]
The characteristics of the Cats and their allies are too well known to need
description. We will therefore only mention the chief types of the group,
and proceed to give, in the fullest detail which space allows, authentic
anecdotes of their life and habits. The tribe includes Lions, Tigers,
Leopards, Pumas, Jaguars, a large number of so-called Tiger-cats (spotted
and striped), Wild Cats, Domestic Cats, and Lynxes. The Hunting-leopard, or
Cheeta, stands in a sub-group by itself, as does the Fossa, the only large
carnivore of Madagascar. This closes the list of the most cat-like animals.
The next links in the chain are formed by the Civets and Genets, creatures
with more or less retractile claws, and long, bushy tails; the still less
cat-like Binturong, a creature with a prehensile tail; and the Mongooses
and Ichneumons, more and more nearly resembling the weasel tribe.
THE LION.
Recent intrusions for railways, sport, discovery, and war into Central and
East Africa have opened up new lion countries, and confirmed, in the most
striking manner, the stories of the power, the prowess, and the dreadful
destructiveness to man and beast of this king of the Carnivora. At present
it is found in Persia, on the same rivers where Nimrod and the Assyrian
kings made its pursuit their royal sport; in Gujerat, where it is nearly
extinct, though in General Price's work on Indian game written before the
middle of the last century it is stated that a cavalry officer killed
eighty lions in three years; and in Africa, from Algeria to the Bechuana
country. It is especially common in Somaliland, where the modern
lion-hunter mainly seeks his sport. On the Uganda Railway, from Mombasa to
Lake Victoria, lions are very numerous and dangerous. In Rhodesia and the
Northern Transvaal they have killed hunters, railway officials, and even
our soldiers near Komati Poort. It has been found that whole tracts of
country are still often deserted by their inhabitants from fear of lions,
and that the accounts of their ravages contained in the Old Testament,
telling how Samaria was almost deserted a second time from this cause,
might be paralleled to-day.
[Illustration: _Photo by York & Son_] [_Notting Hill._
LIONESS AROUSED.
The pose of the animal here shows attention, but not anger or fear.]
THE AFRICAN LION.
BY F. C. SELOUS.
When, in the latter half of the seventeenth century, Europeans first
settled at the Cape of Good Hope, the lion's roar was probably to be heard
almost nightly on the slopes of Table Mountain, since a quaint entry in the
Diary of Van Riebeck, the first Dutch governor of the Cape, runs thus:
"This night the lions roared as if they would take the fort by storm"--the
said fort being situated on the site of the city now known as Cape Town.
At that date there can be little doubt that, excepting in the waterless
deserts and the dense equatorial forests, lions roamed over the whole of
the vast continent of Africa from Cape Agulhas to the very shore of the
Mediterranean Sea; nor was their range very seriously curtailed until the
spread of European settlements in North and South Africa, and the
acquisition of firearms by the aboriginal inhabitants of many parts of the
country, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, steadily denuded
large areas of all wild game.
[Illustration: _Photo by M. Geiser_] [_Algiers._
ALGERIAN LIONESS.
This lioness, sitting under an olive-tree, was actually photographed in the
Soudan by the intrepid M. Geiser.]
As the game vanished, the lions disappeared too; for although at first they
preyed to a large extent on the domestic flocks and herds which gradually
replaced the wild denizens of the once-uninhabited plains, this practice
brought them into conflict with the white colonists or native herdsmen
armed with weapons of precision, before whom they rapidly succumbed.
[Illustration: A FOSTER-MOTHER. This is a remarkable photograph of a setter
suckling three lion cubs which had lost their mother. It is reproduced here
by permission of the Editor of the Irish Field.]
[Illustration: _By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck_] [_Hamburg._
A PERFORMING LION.
Lions, it would seem, are capable of being taught almost anything, even
tricycle-riding.]
To-day lions are still to be found wherever game exists in any quantity,
and their numbers will be in proportion to those of the wild animals on
which they prey.
The indefinite increase of lions must be checked by some unknown law of
nature, otherwise they would have become so numerous in the sparsely
inhabited or altogether uninhabited parts of Africa, that they would first
have exterminated all the game on which they had been wont to prey, and
would then have had to starve or to have eaten one another. But such a
state of things has never been known to occur; and whenever Europeans have
entered a previously unexplored and uninhabited tract of country in Africa,
and have found it teeming with buffaloes, zebras, and antelopes, they have
always found lions in such districts very plentiful indeed, but never in
such numbers as to seriously diminish the abundance of the game upon which
they depended for food.
[Illustration: _Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd._] [_Aberdeen._
LIONESS AND CUB.
Lion cubs thrive both in Dublin and Amsterdam, but not so well at the
London Zoo.]
It is easy to understand that the increase of a herd of herbivorous animals
would be regulated by the amount of the food-supply available, as well as
constantly checked by the attacks of the large carnivora, such as lions,
leopards, cheetas, hyænas, and wild dogs; but I have never been able to
comprehend what has kept within bounds the inordinate increase of lions and
other carnivorous animals in countries where for ages past they have had an
abundant food-supply, and at the same time, having been almost entirely
unmolested by human beings, have had no enemies. Perhaps such a state of
things does not exist at the present day, but there are many parts of
Africa where such conditions have existed from time immemorial up to within
quite recent years.
Since lions were once to be found over the greater portion of the vast
continent of Africa, it is self-evident that these animals are able to
accommodate themselves to great variations of climate and surroundings; and
I myself have met with them, close to the sea, in the hot and sultry
coastlands of South-east Africa; on the high plateau of Mashonaland, where
at an altitude of 6,000 feet above sea-level the winter nights are cold and
frosty; amongst the stony hills to the east of the Victoria Falls of the
Zambesi; and in the swamps of the Chobi. In the great reed-beds of the
latter river a certain number of lions appeared to live constantly, preying
on buffaloes and lechwe antelopes. I often heard them roaring at nights in
these swamps, and I once saw two big male lions wading slowly across an
open space between two beds of reeds in water nearly a foot in depth.
[Illustration: _Photo by Fratelli Alinari_] [_Florence._
A YOUNG LIONESS.
The sole of the hind foot shows the soft pads on which the Cats noiselessly
approach their prey.]
Although there are great individual differences in lions as regards size,
general colour of coat, and more particularly in the length, colour, and
profuseness of the mane with which the males are adorned, yet as these
differences occur in every part of Africa where lions are met with, and
since constant varieties with one fixed type of mane living by themselves
and not interbreeding with other varieties do not exist anywhere, modern
zoologists are, I think, now agreed that there is only one species of lion,
since in any large series of wild lion skins, made in any particular
district of Africa or Asia, every gradation will be found between the
finest-maned specimens and those which are destitute of any mane at all.
Several local races have, however, been recently described by German
writers.
In the hot and steamy coastlands of tropical Africa lions usually have
short manes, and never, I believe, attain the long silky black manes
sometimes met with on the high plateaux of the interior. However, there is,
I believe, no part of Africa where all or even the majority of male lions
carry heavy manes, the long hair of which does not as a rule cover more
than the neck and chest, with a tag of varying length and thickness
extending from the back of the neck to between the shoulder-blades. Lions
with very full black manes, covering the whole shoulders, are rare
anywhere, but more likely to be encountered on the high plateaux, where the
winter nights are extremely cold, than anywhere else. In such cases, in
addition to the tufts of hair always found on the elbows and in the armpits
of lions with fair-sized manes, there will probably be large tufts of hair
in each flank just where the thighs join the belly; but I have never yet
seen the skin of a lion shot within the last thirty years with the whole
belly covered with long, thick hair, as may constantly be observed in lions
kept in captivity in the menageries of Europe. There is, however, some
evidence to show that, when lions existed on the high plains of the Cape
Colony and the Orange River Colony, where the winter nights are much colder
than in the countries farther north where lions may still be encountered,
certain individuals of the species developed a growth of long hair all over
the belly, as well as an extraordinary luxuriance of mane on the neck and
shoulders.
[Illustration: _By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck_] [_Hamburg._
A HAPPY FAMILY.
Here is a group of animals and their keeper from Herr Hagenbeck's
Thierpark. The animal in front is a cross between a lion and a tigress; he
lives on quite friendly terms with his keeper, and also with lions, tigers,
and leopards, as seen in the photograph.]
[Illustration: _By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck_] [_Hamburg._
A CROSS BETWEEN LION AND TIGRESS.
This unique photograph shows a remarkable hybrid and its proud parents. The
father (on the right) is a lion, and the mother (on the left) a tigress.
The offspring (in the centre) is a fine, large male, now four years old; it
is bigger than an average-sized lion or tiger.]
From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that wild lions, having as a
rule much less luxuriant manes than many examples of their kind to be seen
in European menageries, are ordinarily not so majestic and dignified in
appearance as many of their caged relatives. On the other hand, the wild
lion is a much more alert and active animal than a menagerie specimen, and
when in good condition is far better built and more powerful-looking, being
free from all appearance of lankiness and weakness in the legs, and having
strong, well-formed hindquarters. The eyes of the menagerie lion, too, look
brown and usually sleepy, whilst those of the wild animal are yellow, and
extraordinarily luminous even after death. When wounded and standing at
bay, with head held low between his shoulders, growling hoarsely, and with
twitching tail, even if he is not near enough to be observed very closely,
a lion looks a very savage and dangerous animal; but should he be wounded
in such a way as to admit of a near approach--perhaps by a shot that has
paralysed his hindquarters--his flaming eyes will seem to throw out sparks
of living fire.
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
A HUNGRY LION.
Notice that the mane, as in most wild lions, is very scanty.]
[Illustration: _By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck_] [_Hamburg._
LIONESS AND TIGER.
The straightness of the lioness's tail is here shown. It is not in the
least like that of the tiger or of the cat.]
Speaking generally, there is little or no danger in meeting a lion or lions
in the daytime. Even in parts of the country where firearms are unknown,
and where the natives seldom or never interfere with them, these animals
seem to have an instinctive fear of man, and even when encountered at the
carcase of an animal freshly killed, and at a time when they may be
supposed to be hungry, they will almost invariably retreat before the
unwelcome presence, sometimes slowly and sulkily, but in districts where
much hunting with firearms has been going on at a very rapid pace. However,
I have known of two cases of Europeans mounted on horseback having been
attacked by lions in broad daylight, and Dr. Livingstone mentions a third.
In one of the instances which came within my own knowledge, a lion sprang
at a Boer hunter as he was riding slowly along, carrying an elephant-gun in
his right hand and followed by a string of natives on foot. The lion
attacked from the left side, and with its right paw seized my friend from
behind by the right side of his face and neck, inflicting deep gashes with
its sharp claws, one of which cut right through his cheek and tore out one
of his teeth. My friend was pulled from his horse, but, clutching the
loosely girthed saddle tightly with his knees, it twisted round under the
horse's belly before he fell to the ground. Instead of following up its
success, the lion, probably scared by the shouting of the Kaffirs, trotted
away for a short distance, and then turned and stood looking at the
dismounted hunter, who, never having lost his presence of mind, immediately
shot it dead with his heavy old muzzle-loading elephant-gun. Besides these
three instances of Europeans having been attacked in the daytime by lions,
I have known of a certain number of natives having been killed in broad
daylight. Such incidents are, however, by no means every-day occurrences,
and, speaking generally, it may be said that the risk of molestation by
lions in Africa during daylight is very small. It is by night that lions
roam abroad with stealthy step in search of prey; and at such times they
are often, when hungry, incredibly bold and daring. I have known them upon
several occasions to enter a hunter's camp, and, regardless of fires, to
seize oxen and horses and human beings.
During the year following the first occupation of Mashonaland in 1890, a
great deal of damage was done by lions, which could not resist the
attractions of the settlers' live stock. For the first few months I kept as
accurate an account as I could of the number of horses, donkeys, oxen,
sheep, goats, and pigs which were killed by lions, and it soon mounted up
to over 200 head. During the same time several white men were also mauled
by lions, and one unfortunate man named Teale was dragged from beneath the
cart, where he was sleeping by the side of a native driver, and at once
killed and eaten. Several of the horses were killed inside rough shelters
serving as stables. In the following year (1891) over 100 pigs were killed
in one night by a single lioness. These pigs were in a series of pens,
separated one from another, but all under one low thatched roof. The
lioness forced her way in between two poles, and apparently was unable,
after having satisfied her hunger, to find her way out again, and, becoming
angry and frightened, wandered backwards and forwards through the pens,
killing almost all the pigs, each one with a bite at the back of the head
or neck. This lioness, which had only eaten portions of two young pigs,
made her escape before daylight, but was killed with a set gun the next
night by the owner of the pigs.
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
TIGRESS.
Were the grass seen here the normal height of that in the Indian jungles,
the upright lines would harmonize with the stripes, and render the tiger
almost invisible.]
When lions grow old, they are always liable to become man-eaters. Finding
their strength failing them, and being no longer able to hunt and pull down
large antelopes or zebras, they are driven by hunger to killing small
animals, such as porcupines, and even tortoises, or they may visit a native
village and catch a goat, or kill a child or woman going for water; and
finding a human being a very easy animal to catch and kill, an old lion
which has once tasted human flesh will in all probability continue to be a
man-eater until he is killed. On this subject, in his "Missionary Travels,"
Dr. Livingstone says: "A man-eater is invariably an old lion; and when he
overcomes his fear of man so far as to come to villages for goats, the
people remark, 'His teeth are worn; he will soon kill men.' They at once
acknowledge the necessity of instant action, and turn out to kill him." It
is the promptness with which measures are taken by the greater part of the
natives of Southern Africa to put an end to any lion which may take to
eating men that prevents these animals as a rule from becoming the
formidable pests which man-eating tigers appear to be in parts of India.
But man-eating lions in Africa are not invariably old animals. One which
killed thirty-seven human beings in 1887, on the Majili River, to the
north-west of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi, was, when at last he was
killed, found to be an animal in the prime of life; whilst the celebrated
man-eaters of the Tsavo River, in East Africa, were also apparently strong,
healthy animals. These two man-eating lions caused such consternation
amongst the Indian workmen on the Uganda Railway that the work of
construction was considerably retarded, the helpless coolies refusing to
remain any longer in a country where they were liable to be eaten on any
night by a man-eating lion. Both these lions were at last shot by one of
the engineers on the railway (Mr. J. H. Patterson), but not before they had
killed and devoured twenty-eight Indian coolies and an unknown number of
native Africans.
[Illustration: _Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley._
TIGER CUB.
Note the great development of the legs and paws.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Valentine & Sons, Ltd._] [_Dundee._
A ROYAL TIGER.
This is an old Bengal Tiger, with the smooth, short coat grown in that hot
climate.]
THE TIGER.
TIGERS are the "type animal" of Asia. They are found nowhere else. Lions
were inhabitants, even in historic times, of Europe, and are still common
on the Euphrates and in parts of Persia, just as they were when the
Assyrian kings shot them with arrows from their hunting-chariots. They
survived in Greece far later than the days when story says that Hercules
slew the Nemean lion in the Peloponnesus, for the baggage-animals of
Xerxes' army of invasion were attacked by lions near Mount Athos. But the
tiger never comes, and never did come in historic times, nearer to Europe
than the Caucasian side of the Caspian Sea. On the other hand, they range
very far north. All our tiger-lore is Indian. There is scarcely a story of
tigers to be found in English books of sport which deals with the animal
north of the line of the Himalaya. These Chinese northern tigers and the
Siberian tigers are far larger than those of India. They have long woolly
coats, in order to resist the cold. Their skins are brought to London in
hundreds every year to the great fur-sales. But the animals themselves we
never see. The present writer was informed by a friend that in the Amur
Valley he shot three of these tigers in a day, putting them up in thick
bush-scrub by the aid of dogs.
[Illustration: _Photo by Fratelli Alinari_] [_Florence._
A TIGER BEFORE SLEEPING.
Tigers, when about to sleep, sit in this position; when more drowsy, they
lie down or roll over on their backs.]
The ROYAL BENGAL TIGER, so called, and very properly called in the old
books of natural history, is a different and far more savage beast. It is
almost _invariably_ a ferocious savage, fierce by nature, never wishing to
be otherwise than a destroyer--of beasts mainly, but often of men. Compared
with the lion, it is far longer, but rather lighter, for the lion is more
massive and compact. "A well-grown tigress," says Sir Samuel Baker, "may
weigh on an average 240 lbs. live weight. A very fine tiger may weigh 440
lbs., but if fat the same tiger would weigh 500 lbs. There may be tigers
which weigh 50 lbs. more than this; but I speak according to my experience.
I have found that a tiger of 9 feet 8 inches is about 2 inches above the
average. The same skin may be _stretched_ to measure 10 feet. A tiger in
the Zoological Gardens is a long, lithe creature with little flesh. Such a
specimen affords a poor example of this grand animal in its native jungles,
with muscles in their full, ponderous development from continual exertion
in nightly travels over long distances, and in mortal struggles when
wrestling with its prey. A well-fed tiger is by no means a slim figure. On
the contrary, it is exceedingly bulky, broad in the shoulders, back, and
loins, and with an extraordinary girth of limbs, especially in the forearms
and wrists."
This ponderous, active, and formidably armed creature is, as might be
expected, able to hold its own wherever Europeans do not form part of the
regular population. In India the peasants are quite helpless even against a
cattle-killing tiger in a populous part of the country. In the large
jungles, and on the islands at the mouths of the great rivers, the tigers
have things all their own way. Things are no better in the Far East. A
large peninsula near Singapore is said to have been almost abandoned by its
cultivators lately, owing to the loss of life caused by the tigers. In the
populous parts of India the tiger is far more stealthy than in the
out-of-the-way districts. It only hunts by night; and after eating a part
of the animal killed, moves off to a distance, and does not return.
Otherwise the regular habit is to return to the kill just at or after dusk,
and finish the remainder. Its suspicions seem quite lulled to sleep after
dark. Quite recently a sportsman sat up to watch for a tiger at a
water-hole. It was in the height of the Indian hot season, when very little
water was left. All the creatures of that particular neighbourhood were in
the habit of coming to drink at one good pool still left in the rocky bed
of the river. There the tigers came too. The first night they did not come
until all the other creatures--hog, deer, peacocks, and monkeys--had been
down to drink. They then came so softly over the sand that the gunner in
waiting did not hear them pass. His first knowledge that they were there
was due to the splashing they made as they entered the water. It was quite
dark, and he felt not a little nervous, for the bush on which he was seated
on a small platform was only some 10 feet high. He heard the two tigers
pass him, not by their footsteps, but by the dripping of the water as it
ran off their bodies on to the sand. Next night they came again. This time,
though it was dark, he shot one in a very ingenious manner. The two tigers
walked into the water, and apparently lay down or sat down in it, with
their heads out. They only moved occasionally, lapping the water, but did
not greatly disturb the surface. On this was reflected a bright star from
the sky above. The sportsman put the sight of the rifle on the star, and
kept it up to his shoulder. Something obliterated the star, and he
instantly fired. The "something" was the tiger's head, which the bullet
duly hit.
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._
A HALF-GROWN TIGER CUB.
Tigers "grow to their head," like children. The head of a half-grown cub is
as long, though not so broad, as that of the adult.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Fratelli Alinari_] [_Florence._
TIGERS IN ITALY.
These tigers were photographed in Turin. Italy was the first European
country to which these animals were brought from the East.]
The hill-tigers of India are, or were, much more given to hunting by day
than the jungle-tigers. In the Nilgiri Hills of Southern India the late
General Douglas Hamilton said that before night the tigers were already
about hunting, and that in the shade of evening it was dangerous to ride on
a pony--not because the tigers wished to kill the rider, but because they
might mistake the pony and its rider for a sambar deer. He was stalked like
this more than once. Often, when stalking sambar deer and ibex by day, he
saw the tigers doing the same, or after other prey. "My brother Richard,"
he writes, "was out after a tiger which the hillmen reported had killed a
buffalo about an hour before. He saw the tiger on first getting to the
ground, and the tiger had seen him. It was lying out in the open watching
the buffalo, and shuffled into the wood, and would not come out again. Next
morning, when we got to the ground, the tiger was moving from rock to rock,
and had dragged the body into a nullah.... We were upon the point of
starting home when we observed a number of vultures coming down to the
carcase. The vultures began to collect in large numbers on the opposite
hill. I soon counted fifty; but they would not go near the buffalo. Then
some crows, bolder than the rest, flew down, and made a great row over
their meal. All of a sudden they all flew up, and I made certain it was the
tiger. Then my brother fired, and there he was, shot right through the
brain, lying just above the buffalo. He had been brought down by the noise
the crows were making. Upon driving the _sholas_ (small woods on these
hills), tigers were often put out. Sometimes they availed themselves of the
drive to secure food for themselves. A wood was being driven, when a
tremendous grunting was heard, and out rushed an old boar, bristling and
savage. B---- was about to raise his rifle, when a growl like thunder
stopped him, and a great tiger with one spring cleared the nullah, and
alighted on the back of the old boar. Such a battle then took place that,
what with the growls of the tiger and the squeals of the boar, one might
believe oneself in another world. I thought of nothing but of how to kill
one or the other, or both; so, as they were rolling down over and over,
about fifty yards from me on the open hillside, I let fly both barrels. For
a second or two the noise went on; then the tiger jumped off, and the boar
struggled into the nullah close by. The tiger pulled up, and coolly stared
at us without moving; but his courage seemed to fail him, and he sprang
into the nullah and disappeared."
[Illustration: _By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck_] [_Hamburg._
A LEOPARD-PUMA HYBRID.
This is a photograph from life of a very rare hybrid. The animals' father
was a puma, its mother a leopard. It is now dead, and may be seen stuffed
in Mr. Rothschild's Museum at Tring.]
[Illustration: _Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S._] [_North Finchley._
LEOPARDS.
A pair of leopards, one spotted, the other black. Black leopards may be the
offspring of the ordinary spotted form; they are generally much more
savage.]
In most parts of India tigers are now scarce and shy, except in the
preserves of the great rajas, and the dominions of some mighty and pious
Hindu potentates, such as the Maharaja of Jeypur, who, being supposed to be
descended from a Hindu god, allows no wild animals to be killed. There the
deer and pig are so numerous that tigers are welcome to keep them down. But
the Sunderbunds, unwholesome islands at the Ganges mouth, still swarm with
them. So does the Malay Peninsula.
Mr. J. D. Cobbold shot a tiger in Central Asia in a swamp so deep in snow
and so deadly cold that he dared not stay for fear of being frozen to
death. Tigers sometimes wander as far west as the Caucasus near the
Caspian. The farther north, the larger your tiger, is the rule. The biggest
ever seen in Europe was a Siberian tiger owned by Herr Carl Hagenbeck, of
Hamburg, and the largest known skin and skull is from the Far North. The
skin is 13 feet 6 inches from the nose to the end of the tail. The largest
Indian tiger-skin, from one killed by the Maharaja of Cuch Behar, measures
11 feet 7 inches.
LEOPARDS.
Less in size, but even more ferocious, the LEOPARD has a worse character
than the tiger. Living mainly in trees, and very nocturnal, this fierce and
dangerous beast is less often seen than far rarer animals. It is widely
spread over the world, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Atlas Mountains,
and from Southern China to the Black Sea, where it is sometimes met with in
the Caucasus. There seems to be no legend of its presence in Greece, Italy,
or Spain; but it was quite common in Asia Minor; and Cicero, when governor
of Cilicia, was plagued by an aristocratic young friend in Rome to send him
leopards to exhibit in a fête he was giving.
Any one who has frequented the Zoo for any time must have noticed the
difference in size and colour between leopards from different parts of the
world. On some the ground-colour is almost white, in others a clear
nut-brown. Others are jet-black. Wherever they live, they are cattle
thieves, sheep thieves, and dog thieves. Though not formidable in
appearance, they are immensely strong. Sometimes one will turn man-eater.
Both in India and lately in Africa cases have been known where they have
"set up" in this line as deliberately as any tiger. They have four or five
young at a birth, which may often be kept tame for some time and are
amusing pets. But the following plain story shows the danger of such
experiments. At Hong-kong an English merchant had a tame leopard, which was
brought into the room by a coolie for the guests to see at a dinner party.
Excited by the smell of food, it refused to go out when one of the ladies,
who did not like its looks, wished for it to be removed. The man took hold
of its collar and began to haul it out. It seized him by the neck, bit it
through, and in a minute the coolie was dying, covered with blood, on the
dining-room floor!
[Illustration: _Photo by C. Reid_] [_Wishaw, N.B._
A YOUNG LEOPARD
The leopard cub is far more cat-like in appearance than the young tiger or
lion.]
The Chinese leopard ranges as far north as the Siberian tiger, and, like
the latter, seems to grow larger the farther north it is found. The colour
of these northern leopards is very pale, the spots large, and the fur very
long. At the March fur-sales of the present year, held at the stores of Sir
Charles Lampson, there were Siberian leopard-skins as large as those of a
small tiger.
[Illustration: _Photo by J. W. McLellan]_ [_Highbury._
SNOW-LEOPARD, OR OUNCE.
This is a striking portrait of a very beautiful animal. Note the long bushy
tail, thick coat, and large eyes.]
Leopards are essentially tree-living and nocturnal animals. Sleeping in
trees or caves by day, they are seldom disturbed. They do an incredible
amount of mischief among cattle, calves, sheep, and dogs, being especially
fond of killing and eating the latter. They seize their prey by the throat,
and cling with their claws until they succeed in breaking the spine or in
strangling the victim. The largest leopards are popularly called PANTHERS.
In India they sometimes become man-eaters, and are always very dangerous.
They have a habit of feeding on putrid flesh; this makes wounds inflicted
by their teeth or claws liable to blood-poisoning. Nothing in the way of
prey comes amiss to them, from a cow in the pasture to a fowl up at roost.
"In every country," says Sir Samuel Baker, "the natives are unanimous in
saying that the leopard is more dangerous than the lion or tiger. Wherever
I have been in Africa, the natives have declared that they had no fear of a
lion, provided they were not hunting, for it would not attack unprovoked,
but that a leopard was never to be trusted. I remember when a native boy,
accompanied by his grown-up brother, was busily employed with others in
firing the reeds on the opposite bank of a small stream. Being thirsty and
hot, the boy stooped down to drink, when he was immediately seized by a
leopard. His brother, with admirable aim, hurled his spear at the leopard
while the boy was in his jaws. The point separated the vertebræ of the
neck, and the leopard fell stone-dead. The boy was carried to my hut, but
there was no chance of recovery. The fangs had torn open the chest and
injured the lungs. These were exposed to view through the cavity of the
ribs. He died the same night."
In the great mountain-ranges of Central Asia the beautiful SNOW-LEOPARD is
found. It is a large creature, with thick, woolly coat, and a long tail
like a fur boa. The colour is white, clouded with beautiful grey, like that
of an Angora cat. The edges of the cloudings and spots are marked with
black or darker grey. The eyes are very large, bluish grey or
smoke-coloured. It lives on the wild sheep, ibex, and other mountain
animals. In captivity it is far the tamest and gentlest of the large
carnivora, not excepting the puma. Unlike the latter, it is a sleepy, quiet
animal, like a domestic cat. The specimen shown here belonged to a lady in
India, who kept it for some time as a pet. It was then brought to the
Zoological Gardens, where it was more amiable and friendly than most cats.
The writer has entered its cage with the keeper, stroked it, and patted its
head, without in the least ruffling its good-temper. The heat of the
lion-house did not suit it, and it died of consumption.
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
CHEETA.
A cheeta is a hunting-leopard; this one is a particularly large specimen.
The cheetas are dealt with later on in this chapter.]
[Illustration: _Photo by G.W. Wilson & Co., Ltd._] [_Aberdeen._
JAGUAR.
The largest and strongest of the Cats of the New World. A South American
species.]
THE NEW WORLD CATS.
The cats, great and small, of the New World resemble those of the Old,
though not quite so closely as the caribou, wapiti deer, and moose of the
northern forests resemble the reindeer, red deer, and elk of Europe. They
are like, but with a difference. The Jaguar and the Ocelot are respectively
larger and far more beautiful than their counterparts, the leopard and
serval cats. But the Puma, the one medium-sized feline animal which is
unspotted, is something unique. The jaguar and puma are found very far
south in South America; and though the jaguar is really a forest animal, it
seems to have wandered out on to the Pampas of Argentina, perhaps attracted
by the immense numbers of cattle, sheep, and horses on these plains.
[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co., Parson's Green._
PUMA.
A puma in the act of lying down, like a domestic cat.]
THE JAGUAR.
The JAGUAR is as savage as it is formidable, but does not often attack men.
Its headquarters are the immense forests running from Central America to
Southern Brazil; and as all great forests are little inhabited, the jaguar
is seldom encountered by white men. By the banks of the great rivers it is
semi-aquatic; it swims and climbs with equal ease, and will attack animals
on board boats anchored in the rivers. As there are few animals of great
size in these forests, its great strength is not often seen exercised, as
is that of the lion; but it is the personification of concentrated force,
and its appearance is well worth studying from that point of view. The
spots are larger and squarer than in the leopard, the head ponderous, the
forearms and feet one mass of muscle, knotted under the velvet skin. On the
Amazons it draws its food alike from the highest tree-tops and the
river-bed; in the former it catches monkeys in the branches, fish in the
shallows of the rivers, and scoops out turtles' eggs from the sandbanks.
Humboldt, who visited these regions when the white population was scarce,
declared that 4,000 jaguars were killed annually, and 2,000 skins exported
from Buenos Ayres alone. It was clearly common on the Pampas in his day,
and made as great havoc among the cattle and horses as it does to-day.
THE PUMA.
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
FEMALE PUMA.
This shows a puma alert and vigilant, with ears pricked forward.]
The PUMA is a far more interesting creature. It is found from the mountains
in Montana, next the Canadian boundary, to the south of Patagonia. Yankee
stories of its ferocity may have some foundation; but the writer believes
there is no recorded instance of the northern puma attacking man
unprovoked, though in the few places where it now survives it kills
cattle-calves and colts. It is relentlessly hunted with dogs, treed, and
shot. As to the puma of the southern plains and central forests, the
natives, whether Indians or Gauchos, agree with the belief, steadily handed
down from the days of the first Spanish conquest, that the puma is the one
wild cat which is naturally friendly to man. The old Spaniards called it
_amigo del Cristiano_ (the Christian's friend); and Mr. Hudson, in "The
Naturalist in La Plata," gives much evidence of this most curious and
interesting tendency: "It is notorious that where the puma is the only
large beast of prey it is perfectly safe for a small child to go out and
sleep on the plain.... The puma is always at heart a kitten, taking
unmeasured delight in its frolics; and when, as often happens, one lives
alone in the desert, it will amuse itself for hours fighting mock battles
or playing hide-and-seek with imaginary companions, or lying in wait and
putting all its wonderful strategy in practice to capture a passing
butterfly." From Azara downwards these stories have been told too often not
to be largely true; and in old natural histories, whose writers believed
the puma was a terrible man-eater, they also appear as "wonderful escapes."
One tells how a man put his _poncho_, or cloak, over his back when crawling
up to get a shot at some duck, and felt something heavy on the end of it.
He crept from under it, and there was a puma sitting on it, which did not
offer to hurt him.
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
OCELOT.
Note the elongated spots, and their arrangement in chains.]
As space forbids further quotation from Mr. Hudson's experiences, which
should be read, the writer will only add one anecdote which was told him by
Mr. Everard im Thurn, C.B., formerly an official in British Guiana. He was
going up one of the big rivers in his steam-launch, and gave a passage to
an elderly and respectable Cornish miner, who wanted to go up to a
gold-mine. The visitor had his meals on the boat, but at night went ashore
with the men and slung his hammock between two trees, leaving the cabin to
his host. One morning two of the Indian crew brought the miner's hammock on
board with a good deal of laughing and talking. Their master asked what the
joke was, whereupon, pointing to the trees whence they had unslung the
hammock, one said, "Tiger sleep with old man last night." They were quite
in earnest, and pointed out a hollow and marks on the leaves, which showed
that a puma had been lying _just under the man's hammock_. When asked if he
had noticed anything in the night, he said, "Only the frogs croaking
wakened me up." The croaking of the frogs was probably the hoarse purring
of the friendly puma enjoying his proximity to a sleeping man. Mr. Hudson
quotes a case in which four pumas played round and leapt over a person
camping out on the Pampas. He watched them for some time, and then went to
sleep! Many of those brought to this country come with their tempers ruined
by ill-treatment and hardship; but a large proportion are as tame as cats.
Captain Marshall had one at Marlow which used to follow him on a chain and
watch the boats full of pleasure-seekers at the lock.
The puma is always a beautiful creature,--the fur cinnamon-coloured, tinged
with gold; the belly and chest white; the tail long, full, and round.
Though friendly to man, it is a desperate cattle-killer, and particularly
fond of horse-flesh, so much so that it has been suggested that the
indigenous wild horses of America were destroyed by the puma.
There are two other cats of the Pampas--the GRASS-CAT, not unlike our wild
cat in appearance and habits, and the WOOD-CAT, or Geoffroy's Cat. It is a
tabby, and a most elegant creature, of which there is a specimen, at the
time of writing, in the London Zoo.
THE OCELOT.
In the forest region is also found the most beautiful of the medium-sized
cats. This is the OCELOT, which corresponds somewhat to the servals, but is
not the least like a lynx, as the servals are. It is entirely a tree-cat,
and lives on birds and monkeys. The following detailed description of its
coloration appeared in "Life at the Zoo":--
"Its coat, with the exception perhaps of that of the clouded leopard of
Sumatra, marks the highest development of ornament among four-footed
animals. The Argus pheasant alone seems to offer a parallel to the beauties
of the ocelot's fur, especially in the development of the wonderful ocelli,
which, though never reaching in the beast the perfect cup-and-ball ornament
seen on the wings of the bird, can be traced in all the early stages of
spots and wavy lines, so far as the irregular shell-shaped rim and dot on
the feet, sides, and back, just as in the subsidiary ornament of the Argus
pheasant's feathers. Most of the ground-tint of the fur is smoky-pearl
colour, on which the spots develop from mere dots on the legs and speckles
on the feet and toes to large egg-shaped ocelli on the flanks. There are
also two beautiful pearl-coloured spots on the back of each ear, like those
which form the common ornaments of the wings of many moths."
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
OCELOT FROM CENTRAL AMERICA.
The ocelot can be tamed and almost domesticated if taken young, and is
occasionally kept as a pet by the forest Indians.]
The nose is pink; the eye large, convex, and translucent.
A tame ocelot described by Wilson, the American naturalist, was most
playful and affectionate, but when fed with flesh was less tractable. It
jumped on to the back of a horse in the stable, and tried to curl up on its
hindquarters. The horse threw the ocelot off and kicked it, curing it of
any disposition to ride. On seeing a horse, the ocelot always ran off to
its kennel afterwards. When sent to England, it caught hold of and threw
down a child of four years old, whom it rolled about with its paws without
hurting it.
OTHER WILD CATS.
A handsome leopard-like animal is the CLOUDED LEOPARD. It is the size of a
small common leopard, but far gentler in disposition. Its fur is not
spotted, but marked with clouded patches, outlined in grey and olive-brown.
Its skin is among the most beautiful of the Cats. It is found in the Malay
Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Formosa, and along the foot of the Himalaya
from Nepal to Assam. Writing of two which he kept, Sir Stamford Raffles
said: "No kitten could be more good-tempered. They were always courting
intercourse with persons passing by, and in the expression of their
countenance showed the greatest delight when noticed, throwing themselves
on their backs, and delighting in being tickled and rubbed. On board ship
there was a small dog, which used to play around the cage with the animal.
It was amusing to watch the tenderness and playfulness with which the
latter came in contact with its smaller-sized companion." Both specimens
were procured from the banks of the Bencoolin River, in Sumatra. They are
generally found near villages, and are not dreaded by the natives, except
in so far that they destroy their poultry.
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
CLOUDED LEOPARD.
It shares with the ocelot the first place among the highly ornamented
cats.]
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
FISHING-CAT.
This wild cat haunts the sides of rivers, and is an expert at catching
fish.]
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
MARBLED CAT.
Another beautifully marked cat. The tail is spotted and very long, the
marbled markings being on the body only.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
GOLDEN CAT.
Sumatra is the home of this very beautifully coloured cat. The general tint
is that of gold-stone. Sometimes the belly is pure white.]
The number of smaller leopard-cats and tiger-cats is very great. They fall,
roughly, into three groups: those which are yellow and spotted, those which
are grey and spotted, and those which are grey and striped, or
"whole-coloured." There is no wholly grey wild cat, but several
sandy-coloured species. All live on birds and small mammals, and probably
most share the tame cat's liking for fish. Among the grey-and-spotted cats
are the MOTTLED CAT of the Eastern Himalaya and Straits Settlements and
islands; the TIBETIAN TIGER-CAT; the FISHING-CAT of India and Ceylon, which
is large enough to kill lambs, but lives much on fish and large
marsh-snails; GEOFFROY'S CAT, an American species; the LEOPARD-CAT of Java
and Japan, which seems to have grey fur in Japan and a fulvous leopard-like
skin in India, where it is also called the TIGER-CAT; and the smallest of
all wild cats, the little RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT of India. This has rusty spots
on a grey ground. "I had a kitten brought to me," says Dr. Jerdon of the
species, "when very young. It became quite tame, and was the delight and
admiration of all who saw it. When it was about eight months old, I
introduced the fawn of a gazelle into the room where it was. The little
creature flew at it the moment it saw it, seized it by the nape of the
neck, and was with difficulty taken off." Of the whole-coloured wild
cats--which include the BAY CAT, the American PAMPAS-CAT, PALLAS' CAT of
Tibet and India--the most beautiful is the GOLDEN CAT of Sumatra, one of
which is now in the Zoological Gardens. It has a coat the colour of
gold-stone. The nose is pink, the eyes large and topaz-coloured, the cheeks
striped with white, and the under-parts and lower part of the tail pure
white.
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
PAMPAS-CAT.
Note the likeness of the thick tail and barred legs to our English wild
cat. "Inexpressibly savage in disposition" (Hudson).]
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
EYRA CAT.
The lowest and longest of the cats, shaped more like a civet; it is readily
tamed, and makes a charming pet.]
Four kinds of wild cats are known in South Africa, of which the largest is
the SERVAL, a short-tailed, spotted animal, with rather more woolly fur
than the leopard's. The length is about 4 feet 2 inches, of which the tail
is only 12 inches. It is found from Algeria to the Cape; but its favourite
haunts, like those of all the wild cats of hot countries, are in the reeds
by rivers. It kills hares, rats, birds, and small mammals generally.
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
BAY CAT.
This is an example of the completely tawny small cats.]
The BLACK-FOOTED WILD CAT is another African species. It is a beautiful
spotted-and-lined tabby, the size of a small domestic cat, and as likely as
any other to be the origin of our tabby variety, if tame cats came to
Europe from Africa. At present it is only found south in the Kalahari
Desert and Bechuanaland.
The KAFFIR CAT is the common wild cat of the Cape Colony, and a very
interesting animal. It is a whole-coloured tawny, upstanding animal, with
all the indifference to man and generally independent character of the
domestic tom-cat. It is, however, much stronger than the tame cats, with
which it interbreeds freely. In the Colony it is often difficult to keep
male tame cats, for the wild Kaffir cats come down and fight them in the
breeding-season. The Egyptian cat is really the same animal, slightly
modified by climate. A very distinct species is the JUNGLE-CAT, ranging
from India, through Baluchistan, Syria, and East Africa, and called in
Hindustani the CHAUS. The European striped wild cat extends to the
Himalaya, where the range of the lion-coloured, yellow-eyed chaus begins.
The chaus has a few black bars inside the legs, which vary in different
regions. The Indian chaus has only one distinctly marked; the Kaffir cat
has four or five. The EGYPTIAN FETTERED CAT has been said to be the origin
of the domestic and sacred cats of Egypt. A male chaus is most formidable
when "cornered." General Hamilton chased one, which had prowled into the
cantonments on the look-out for fowls, into a fence. "After a long time I
spied the cat squatting in a hedge," he writes, "and called for the dogs.
When they came, I knelt down and began clapping my hands and cheering them
on. The cat suddenly made a clean spring at my face. I had just time to
catch it as one would a cricket-ball, and, giving its ribs a strong
squeeze, threw it to the dogs; but not before it had made its teeth meet in
my arm just above the wrist. For some weeks I had to carry my arm in a
sling, and I shall carry the marks of the bite to my grave."
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
KAFFIR CAT.
The common wild cat of South Africa. It will interbreed with domestic
cats.]
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
AFRICAN CHAUS, OR JUNGLE-CAT.
The chaus is the Indian and African equivalent of our wild cat. It is
equally strong and savage.]
The chaus, as will be seen from the above, wanders boldly down into the
outskirts of large towns, cantonments, and bungalows, on the look-out for
chickens and pigeons. Its favourite plan is to lie up at dawn in some piece
of thick cover near to where the poultry wander out to scratch, feed, and
bask. It then pounces on the nearest unhappy hen and rushes off with it
into cover. An acquaintance of the writer once had a number of fine Indian
game fowl, of which he was not a little proud. He noticed that one was
missing every morning for three days, and, not being able to discover the
robber, shut them up in a hen-house. Next morning he heard a great
commotion outside, and one of his bearers came running in to say that a
leopard was in the hen-house. As this was only built of bamboo or some such
light material, it did not seem probable that a leopard would stay there.
Getting his rifle, he went out into the compound, and cautiously approached
the hen-house, in which the fowls were still making loud protests and cries
of alarm. The door was shut; but some creature--certainly not a
leopard--might have squeezed in through the small entrance used by the
hens. He opened the door, and saw at the back of the hen-house a chaus
sitting, with all its fur on end, looking almost as large as a small
leopard. On the floor was one dead fowl. The impudent jungle-cat rushed for
the door, but had the coolness to seize the hen as it passed, and with this
in its mouth rushed past the owner of the hens, his servants and retainers,
and reached a piece of thick scrub near with its prize.
As the chaus is common both in India and Africa, a comparison of its habits
in both continents is somewhat interesting. Jerdon, the Indian naturalist,
writes: "It is the common wild cat from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, and
from the level of the sea to 7,000 or 8,000 feet elevation. It frequents
alike the jungles and the open country, and is very partial to long reeds,
and grass, sugarcane-fields, and corn-fields. It does much damage to all
game, especially to hares and partridges. Quite recently I shot a pea-fowl
at the edge of a sugarcane-field. One of these cats sprang out, seized the
pea-fowl, and after a short struggle--for the bird was not quite
dead--carried it off before my astonished eyes, and, in spite of my running
up, made his escape with his booty. It must have been stalking these very
birds, so closely did its spring follow my shot. It is said to breed twice
a year, and to have three or four young at a birth. I have very often had
the young brought to me, but always failed in rearing them; and they always
showed a savage and untamable disposition. I have seen numbers of cats
about villages in various parts of the country that must have been hybrids
between this cat and the tame ones."
The late Sir Oliver St. John was more fortunate with his jungle-cat
kittens. He obtained three in Persia. These he reared till they were three
months old, by which time they became so tame that they would climb on to
his knees at breakfast-time, and behave like ordinary kittens. One was
killed by a greyhound, and another by a scorpion--a curious fate for a
kitten to meet. The survivor then became morose and ill-tempered, but grew
to be a large and strong animal. "Two English bull-terriers of mine, which
would make short work of the largest domestic cat, could do nothing against
my wild cat," says the same writer. "In their almost daily battles the dogs
always got the worst of it."
[Illustration: _Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S._] [_North Finchley._
SERVAL.
This is a spotted cat, with long ears, but no tufts on them, as in the true
lynxes.]
In Africa the chaus haunts the thick cover bordering the rivers. There it
catches not only water-fowl, but also fish. According to Messrs. Nicolls
and Eglington, "its spoor may constantly be seen imprinted on the mud
surrounding such pools in the periodical watercourses as are constantly
being dried up, and in which fish may probably be imprisoned without chance
of escape." The chaus has for neighbour in Africa the beautiful SERVAL, a
larger wild cat. This species is reddish in colour, spotted on the body,
and striped on the legs. The ears are long, but not tufted, like those of
the lynx. The serval is more common in North and Central Africa than in the
South. But it is also found south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Messrs.
Nicolls and Eglington say of it: "Northward through South Central Africa it
is fairly common. It frequents the thick bush in the vicinity of rivers.
The _karosses_, or mantles, made from its skins are only worn by the chiefs
and very high dignitaries amongst the native tribes, and are in consequence
eagerly sought after, on which account the species runs a risk of rapid
extermination. Its usual prey consists of the young of the smaller
antelopes, francolins, and wild guinea-fowls, to the latter of which it is
a most destructive enemy in the breeding-season. When obtained young, the
serval can be tamed with little trouble; but it is difficult to rear, and
always shows a singular and almost unaccountable aversion to black men. Its
otherwise even temper is always aroused at the sight of a native. When in
anger, it is by no means a despicable antagonist, and very few dogs would
like to engage in a combat with one single-handed."
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
MALE SERVAL.
The serval is a link between the leopards and tiger-cats, quite large
enough to kill the young of the smaller antelopes.]
THE COMMON WILD CAT.
The WILD CAT was once fairly common all over England. A curious story,
obviously exaggerated, shows that traditions of its ferocity were common at
a very early date. The tale is told of the church of Barnborough, in
Yorkshire, between Doncaster and Barnsley. It is said that a man and a wild
cat met in a wood near and began to fight; that the cat drove the man out
of the wood as far as the church, where he took refuge in the porch; and
that both the man and cat were so injured that they died. According to Dr.
Pearce, the event was formerly commemorated by a rude painting in the
church.
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
SERVAL CLIMBING.
Note the active, cat-like method of climbing.]
Mr. Charles St. John had an experience with a Scotch wild cat very like
that which General Douglas Hamilton tells of the jungle-cat. He heard many
stories of their attacking and wounding men when trapped or when their
escape was cut off, and before long found out that these were true. "I was
fishing in a river in Sutherland," he wrote, "and in passing from one pool
to another had to climb over some rocky ground. In doing so, I sank almost
up to my knees in some rotten heather and moss, almost upon a wild cat
which was concealed under it. I was quite as much startled as the cat
itself could be, when I saw the wild-looking beast rush so unexpectedly
from between my feet, with every hair on her body on end, making her look
twice as large as she really was. I had three small Skye terriers with me,
which immediately gave chase, and pursued her till she took refuge in a
corner of the rocks, where, perched in a kind of recess out of reach of her
enemies, she stood with her hair bristled out, spitting and growling like a
common cat. Having no weapon with me, I laid down my rod, cut a good-sized
stick, and proceeded to dislodge her. As soon as I was within six or seven
feet of the place, she sprang straight at my face over the dogs' heads. Had
I not struck her in mid-air as she leaped at me, I should probably have
received a severe wound. As it was, she fell with her back half broken
among the dogs, who with my assistance dispatched her. I never saw an
animal fight so desperately, or one which was so difficult to kill. If a
tame cat has nine lives, a wild cat must have a dozen. Sometimes one of
these animals will take up its residence at no great distance from a house,
and, entering the hen-roosts and outbuildings, will carry off fowls in the
most audacious manner, or even lambs. Like other vermin, the wild cat
haunts the shores of lakes and rivers, and it is therefore easy to know
where to set a trap for them. Having caught and killed one of the colony,
the rest of them are sure to be taken if the body of their slain relative
is left in the same place not far from their usual hunting-ground and
surrounded with traps, as every wild cat passing that way will to a
certainty come to it."
The wild cat ranges from the far north of Scotland, across Europe and
Northern Asia, to the northern slopes of the Himalaya. It has always been
known as one of the fiercest and wildest of the cats, large or small. The
continual ill-temper of these creatures is remarkable. In the experience of
the keepers of menageries there is no other so intractably savage. One
presented to the Zoological Gardens by Lord Lilford some eight years ago
still snarls and spits at any one who comes near it, even the keeper.
[Illustration: _By permission of Percy Leigh Pemberton, Esq._
EUROPEAN WILD CAT.
The British representative of this species is rapidly becoming extinct. The
specimen whose portrait is given here was caught in Argyllshire.]
The food of the wild cat is grouse, mountain-hares, rabbits, small birds,
and probably fish caught in the shallow waters when chance offers. It is
wholly nocturnal; consequently no one ever sees it hunting for prey. Though
it has long been confined to the north and north-west of Scotland, it is by
no means on the verge of extinction. The deer-forests are saving it to some
extent, as they did the golden eagle. Grouse and hares are rather in the
way when deer are being stalked; consequently the wild cat and the eagle
are not trapped or shot. The limits of its present fastnesses were recently
fixed by careful Scotch naturalists at the line of the Caledonian Canal.
Mr. Harvie Brown, in 1880, said that it only survived in Scotland north of
a line running from Oban to the junction of the three counties of Perth,
Forfar, and Aberdeen, and thence through Banffshire to Inverness. But the
conclusion of a writer in the _Edinburgh Review_ of July, 1898, in a very
interesting article on the survival of British mammals, has been happily
contradicted. He believed that it only survived in the deer-forests of
Inverness and Sutherlandshire. The wild cats shown in the illustrations of
these pages were caught a year later as far south as Argyllshire. The
father and two kittens were all secured, practically unhurt, and purchased
by Mr. Percy Leigh Pemberton for his collection of British mammals at
Ashford, in Kent. This gentleman has had great success in preserving his
wild cats. They, as well as others--martens, polecats, and other small
carnivora--are fed on fresh wild rabbits killed in a warren near;
consequently they are in splendid condition. The old "tom" wild cat,
snarling with characteristic ill-humour, was well supported by the wild and
savage little kittens, which exhibited all the family temper. Shortly
before the capture of these wild cats another family were trapped in
Aberdeenshire and brought to the Zoological Gardens. Four kittens,
beautiful little savages, with bright green eyes, and uninjured, were
safely taken to Regent's Park. But the quarters given them were very small
and cold, and they all died. Two other full-grown wild cats brought there a
few years earlier were so dreadfully injured by the abominable steel traps
in which they were caught that they both died of blood-poisoning.
[Illustration: _By permission of Percy Leigh Pemberton, Esq._
SCOTCH WILD CATS.
These wild cats, the property of Mr. P. Leigh Pemberton, though regularly
fed and well treated, show their natural bad-temper in their faces.]
The real wild cats differ in their markings on the body, some being more
clearly striped, while others are only brindled. But they are all alike in
the squareness and thickness of head and body, and in the short tail,
ringed with black, and growing larger at the tip, which ends off like a
shaving-brush.
It may well be asked, Which of the many species of wild cats mentioned
above is the ancestor of our domestic cats? Probably different species in
different countries. The African Kaffir cat, the Indian leopard-cat, the
rusty-spotted cat of India, and the European wild cat all breed with tame
cats. It is therefore probable that the spotted, striped, and brindled
varieties of tame cats are descended from wild species which had those
markings. The so-called red tame cats are doubtless descended from the
tiger-coloured wild cats. But it is a curious fact that, though the spotted
grey-tabby wild varieties are the least common, that colour is most
frequent in the tame species.
THE LYNXES.
In the LYNXES we seem to have a less specially cat-like form. They are
short-tailed, high in the leg, and broad-faced. Less active than the
leopards and tiger-cats, and able to live either in very hot or very cold
countries, they are found from the Persian deserts to the far north of
Siberia and Canada.
The CARACAL is a southern, hot-country lynx. It has a longer tail than the
others, but the same tufted ears. It seems a link between the lynxes and
the jungle-cats. It is found in India, Palestine, Persia, and Mesopotamia.
In India it was trained, like the cheeta, to catch birds, gazelles, and
hares. The COMMON LYNX is probably the same animal, whether found in
Norway, Russia, the Carpathians, Turkestan, China, or Tibet. The CANADIAN
LYNX is also very probably the same, with local differences of colour. The
NORTHERN LYNX is the largest feline animal left in Europe, and kills sheep
and goats equally with hares and squirrels. The beautiful fur, of pale
cinnamon and light grey, is much admired. In some southern districts of
America we have the RED LYNX, or so-called "wild cat," which is distinct
from the lynx of Canada. The MEDITERRANEAN or SPANISH LYNX seems likewise
entitled to rank as a distinct species.
Of the lynxes the CARACALS are perhaps the most interesting, from their
capacity for domestication. They are found in Africa in the open desert
country, whereas the SERVAL is found in the thick bush. In Africa it is
believed to be the most savage and untamable of the Cats. That is probably
because the Negro and the Kaffir never possessed the art of training
animals, from the elephant downwards. In India the caracal's natural prey
are the fawns of deer and antelope, pea-fowl, hares, and floricans. The
caracal is the quickest with its feet of any of the Cats. One of its
best-known feats is to spring up and catch birds passing over on the wing
at a height of six or eight feet from the ground. A writer, in the
Naturalist's Library, notes that, besides being tamed to catch deer,
pea-fowl, and cranes, the caracal was used in "pigeon matches." Two
caracals were backed one against the other to kill pigeons. The birds were
fed on the ground, and the caracals suddenly let loose among them, to
strike down as many as each could before the birds escaped. Each would
sometimes strike down with its fore paws ten or a dozen pigeons. "Caracal"
means in Turkish "Black Ear," in allusion to the colour of the animal's
organ of hearing.
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
LYNX.
This animal is a uniformly coloured specie common to India and Africa.]
The COMMON LYNX is a thick-set animal, high in the leg, with a square head
and very strong paws and forearms. It is found across the whole northern
region of Europe and Asia. Although never known in Britain in historic
times, it is still occasionally seen in parts of the Alps and in the
Carpathians; it is also common in the Caucasus. It is mainly a forest
animal, and very largely nocturnal; therefore it is seldom seen, and not
often hunted. If any enemy approaches, the lynx lies perfectly still on
some branch or rock, and generally succeeds in avoiding notice. The lynx is
extremely active; it can leap great distances, and makes its attack usually
in that way. When travelling, it trots or gallops in a very dog-like
fashion. Where sheep graze at large on mountains, as in the Balkans and in
Greece, the lynx is a great enemy of the flocks. In Norway, where the
animal is now very rare, there is a tradition that it is more mischievous
than the wolf, and a high price is set on its head.
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
EUROPEAN LYNX.
The largest of the cat tribe left in Europe.]
In Siberia and North Russia most of the lynx-skins taken are sold to the
Chinese. The lynx-skins brought to London are mainly those of the Canadian
species. The fur is dyed, and used for the busbies of the officers in our
hussar regiments. These skins vary much in colour, and in length and
quality of fur. The price varies correspondingly. The Canadian lynx lives
mainly on the wood-hares and on the wood-grouse of the North American
forests. The flesh of the lynx is said to be good and tender.
Brehm says of the Siberian lynx: "It is a forest animal in the strictest
sense of the word. But in Siberia it occurs only singly, and is rarely
captured. Its true home is in the thickest parts in the interior of the
woods, and these it probably never leaves except when scarcity of food or
the calls of love tempt it to wander to the outskirts. Both immigrants and
natives hold the hunting of the lynx in high esteem. This proud cat's
activity, caution and agility, and powers of defence arouse the enthusiasm
of every sportsman, and both skin and flesh are valued, the latter not only
by the Mongolian tribes, but also by the Russian hunters. The lynx is
seldom captured in fall-traps; he often renders them useless by walking
along the beam and stepping on the lever, and he usually leaps over the
spring-traps in his path. So only the rifle and dogs are left."
[Illustration: _By permission of Mr. S. B. Gundy_] [_Toronto._
CANADIAN LYNX.
Great numbers of these are trapped every year for the sake of their fur.]
The RED LYNX is a small American variety, the coat of which turns tawny in
summer, when it much resembles a large cat. It is called in some parts of
the United States the Mountain-cat. This lynx is 30 inches long in the
body, with a tail 6 inches long. It is found on the eastern or Atlantic
side of the continent, and by no means shuns the neighbourhood of
settlements.
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin._
WOLF FROM CENTRAL EUROPE.
The last persons recorded as killed by these animals were an artist and his
wife travelling in Hungary.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
CHEETAS.
Cheetas can be distinguished at a glance from ordinary leopards by the
solid black spots on the back instead of the "rosettes."]
THE CHEETA.
THE NON-RETRACTILE-CLAWED CAT.
The CHEETA, or Hunting-leopard, is the only example of this particular
group, though there was an extinct form, whose remains are found in the
Siwalik Hills, in the north of India. It is a very widely dispersed animal,
found in Persia, Turkestan, and the countries east of the Caspian, and in
India so far as the lower part of the centre of the peninsula. It is also
common in Africa, where until recent years it was found in Cape Colony and
Natal. Now it is banished to the Kalahari Desert, the Northern Transvaal,
and Bechuanaland.
[Illustration: _Photo by York & Son_] [_Notting Hill._
A CHEETA HOODED.
The cheeta is not unhooded until fairly near his quarry, when he is given a
sight of the game, and a splendid race ensues.]
The cheeta is more dog-like than any other cat. It stands high on the leg,
and has a short, rounded head. Its fur is short and rather woolly, its feet
rounded, and its claws, instead of slipping back into sheaths like a
lion's, are only partly retractile.
Mr. Lockwood Kipling gives the following account of the cheeta and its
keepers: "The only point where real skill comes into play in dealing with
the hunting-leopard is in catching the adult animal when it has already
learnt the swift, bounding onset, its one accomplishment. The young cheeta
is not worth catching, for it has not yet learnt its trade, nor can it be
taught in captivity.... There are certain trees where these great dog-cats
(for they have some oddly canine characteristics) come to play and whet
their claws. The hunters find such a tree, and arrange nooses of deer-sinew
round it, and wait the event. The animal comes and is caught by the leg,
and it is at this point that the trouble begins. It is no small achievement
for two or three naked, ill-fed men to secure so fierce a capture and carry
it home tied on a cart. Then his training begins. He is tied in all
directions, principally from a thick rope round his loins, while a hood
fitted over his head effectually blinds him. He is fastened on a strong
cot-bedstead, and the keepers and their wives and families reduce him to
submission by starving him and keeping him awake. His head is made to face
the village street, and for an hour at a time, several times a day, his
keepers make pretended rushes at him, and wave clothes, staves, and other
articles in his face. He is talked to continually, and the women's tongues
are believed to be the most effective of things to keep him awake. No
created being could withstand the effects of hunger, want of sleep, and
feminine scolding; and the poor cheeta becomes piteously, abjectly tame. He
is taken out for a walk occasionally--if a slow crawl between four
attendants, all holding hard, can be called a walk--and his promenades are
always through the crowded streets and bazaars, where the keepers' friends
are to be found; but the people are rather pleased than otherwise to see
the raja's cheetas amongst them." Later, when the creature is tamed, "the
cheeta's bedstead is like that of the keeper, and leopard and man are often
curled up under the same blanket! When his bedfellow is restless, the
keeper lazily stretches out an arm from his end of the cot and dangles a
tassel over the animal's head, which seems to soothe him. In the early
morning I have seen a cheeta sitting up on his couch, a red blanket half
covering him, and his tasselled red hood awry, looking exactly like an
elderly gentleman in a nightcap, as he yawns with the irresolute air of one
who is in doubt whether to rise or to turn in for another nap."
This charming and accurate description shows the cheeta at home. In the
field he is quite another creature. He is driven as near as possible to the
game, and then unhooded and given a sight of them. Sir Samuel Baker thus
describes a hunt in which a cheeta was used: "The chase began after the
right-hand buck, which had a start of about 110 yards. It was a magnificent
sight to see the extraordinary speed of pursuer and pursued. The buck flew
over the level surface, followed by the cheeta, which was laying out at
full stretch, with its long, thick tail brandishing in the air. They had
run 200 yards, when the keeper gave the word, and away we went as fast as
our horses could carry us. The horses could go over this clear ground,
where no danger of a fall seemed possible. I never saw anything to equal
the speed of the buck and the cheeta; we were literally nowhere, although
we were going as hard as horseflesh could carry us; but we had a glorious
view. The cheeta was gaining in the course, while the buck was exerting
every muscle for life or death in its last race. Presently, after a course
of about a quarter of a mile, the buck doubled like a hare, and the cheeta
lost ground as it shot ahead, instead of turning quickly, being only about
thirty yards in rear of the buck. Recovering itself, it turned on extra
steam, and the race appeared to recommence at increased speed. The cheeta
was determined to win, and at this moment the buck made another double in
the hope of shaking off its terrible pursuer; but this time the cheeta ran
cunning, and was aware of the former game. It turned as sharply as the
buck. Gathering itself together for a final effort, it shot forward like an
arrow, picked up the distance which remained between them, and in a cloud
of dust we could for one moment distinguish two forms. The next instant the
buck was on its back, and the cheeta's fangs were fixed like an iron vice
in its throat. The course run was about 600 yards, and it was worth a
special voyage to India to see that hunt."
[Illustration: _Photo by Ottomar Anschütz_] [_Berlin._
A CHEETA ON THE LOOK-OUT.
Cheetas are common to Africa and India. By the native princes of the latter
country they are much used for taking antelope and other game.]
THE DOMESTIC CAT.
BY LOUIS WAIN.
Of the domestication of the cat we know very little, but it is recorded
that a tribe of cats was trained to retrieve--_i.e._ to fetch and carry
game. In our own time I have seen many cats fetch and carry corks and
newspapers, and on one occasion pounce upon a small roach at the end of a
line and place it at its owner's feet. Gamekeepers whom I have known agree
that, for cunning, craftiness, and tenacity in attaining an object, the
semi-wild cat of the woods shows far superior intelligence to the rest of
the woodland denizens. It is quite a usual thing to hear of farm cats
entering upon a snake-hunting expedition with the greatest glee, and
showing remarkable readiness in pitching upon their quarry and pinning it
down until secured. These farm cats are quite a race by themselves. Of
decided sporting proclivities, they roam the countryside with considerable
fierceness, and yet revert to the domesticity of the farmhouse fireside as
though innocent of roving instincts. They are spasmodic to a degree in
their mode of life, and apparently work out one mood before entering upon
another. It will be remembered that this spasmodic tendency--the true
feline independence, by-the-bye--is and has been characteristic of the cat
throughout its history, and any one who has tried to overcome it has met
with failure.
[Illustration: _Photo by T. Fall_] [_Baker Street._
WHITE SHORT-HAIRED.
Most white cats are not albinoes--that is to say, they have ordinarily
coloured and not red eyes.]
[Illustration: _Photo by T. Fall_] [_Baker Street._
LONG-HAIRED WHITE.
White cats with blue eyes are generally deaf, or at all events hard of
hearing.]
Watch your own cat, and you will see that he will change his
sleeping-quarters periodically; and if he can find a newspaper conveniently
placed, he will prefer it to lie upon, before anything perhaps, except a
cane-bottomed chair, to which all cats are very partial. If you keep a
number of cats, as I do, you will find that they are very imitative, and
what one gets in the habit of doing they will all do in time: for instance,
one of my cats took to sitting with his front paws inside my tall hat and
his body outside, and this has become a catty fashion in the family,
whether the object be a hat, cap, bonnet, small basket, box, or tin. If by
chance one of the cats is attacked by a dog, a peculiar cry from the
aggrieved animal will immediately awaken the others out of their lethargy
or sleep, and bring them fiercely to the rescue. They are, too,
particularly kind and nice to the old cat, and are tolerant only of strange
baby kittens and very old cats in the garden as long as they do not
interfere with the "catty" subject. The same quality obtains in Spain or
Portugal, where a race of scavenging cats exists, which go about in droves
or families, and are equal to climbing straight walls, big trees, chimneys,
and mountain-sides. Long, lanky, and thin, they are built more on the lines
of a greyhound than the ordinary cat, and are more easily trained in tricks
than home cats.
[Illustration: _Photo by Fratelli Alinari, Florence._
MACKEREL-MARKED TABBY.
Tabbies are probably the best known and the commonest cats in England.]
[Illustration: _Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley._
CAT CARRYING KITTEN.
A unique photograph, showing the way in which the cat carries its young.]
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor, Ealing._
BLUE LONG-HAIRED, OR PERSIAN.
Persian or long-haired cats are of various colours; this is one of the
least common.]
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor, Ealing._
SMOKE AND BLUE LONG-HAIRED.
Two pretty and valuable Persian kittens.]
[Illustration: _By permission of Lady Alexander._
ORANGE TABBY.
A champion winner of 90 first prizes.]
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor, Ealing._
LONG-HAIRED TABBY.
A pretty pose.]
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor, Ealing._
SILVER PERSIAN.
A handsome specimen.]
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor, Ealing._
SMOKE LONG-HAIRED, OR PERSIAN.
A new breed.]
The TORTOISESHELL has long been looked upon as the national cat of Spain,
and in fact that country is overrun with the breed, ranging from a dense
black and brown to lighter shades of orange-brown and white. The pure
tortoiseshell might be called a black and tan, with no white, streaked like
a tortoiseshell comb if possible, and with wonderful amber eyes. It is
characteristic of their intelligence that they will invariably find their
way home, and will even bring that mysterious instinct to bear which guides
them back long distances to the place of their birth; and, with regard to
this cat, the stories of almost impossible journeys made are not one bit
exaggerated. The tom-cats of this breed are very rare in England; I myself
have only known of the existence of six in fifteen years, and of these but
three are recorded in the catalogues of our cat shows.
[Illustration: SHORT-HAIRED BLUE.
This champion cat belongs to Lady Alexander, by whose kind permission it is
here reproduced.]
The BLACK CAT has many of the characteristics of the tortoiseshell, but is
essentially a town cat, and is wont to dream his life away in shady
corners, in underground cellars, in theatres, and in all places where he
can, in fact, retire to monastic quiet. The black cat of St. Clement Danes
Church was one of the remarkable cats of London. It was his wont to climb
on to the top of the organ-pipes and enjoy an occasional musical concert
alone. A christening or a wedding was his pride; and many people can vouch
for a lucky wedding who had the good-fortune to be patronised by the black
cat of St. Clement Danes, which walked solemnly down the aisle of the
church in front of the happy couples.
My old pet Peter was a black-and-white cat, and, like most of his kind, was
one of the most remarkable cats for intelligence I have ever known. A
recital of his accomplishments would, however, have very few believers--a
fact I find existing in regard to all really intelligent cats. There are so
many cats of an opposite character, and people will rarely take more than a
momentary trouble to win the finer nature of an animal into existence.
Suffice it to say, that Peter would lie and die, sit up with spectacles on
his nose and with a post-card between his paws--a trick I have taught many
people's cats to do. He would also mew silent meows when bid, and wait at
the door for my home-coming. For a long time, too, it was customary to hear
weird footfalls at night outside the bedroom doors, and visitors to the
house were a little more superstitious as to their cause than we were
ourselves. We set a watch upon the supposed ghost, but sudden opening of
the doors discovered only the mystic form of Peter sitting purring on the
stairs. He was, however, ultimately caught in the act of lifting the corner
of the door-rug and letting it fall back in its place, and he had grown
quite expert in his method of raising and dropping it at regular intervals
until he heard that his signals had produced the required effect, and the
door was opened to admit him.
[Illustration: _Photo by T. Fall_] [_Baker Street._
SILVER TABBY.
A beautiful variety of the typical British cat.]
WHITE CATS I might call musical cats, for it is quite characteristic of the
albinoes that noises rarely startle them out of their simpering, loving
moods. The scraping of a violin, which will scare an ordinary cat out of
its senses, or the thumping of a piano, which would terrorise even
strong-nerved cats, would only incite a white cat to a happier mood.
Certainly all white cats are somewhat deaf, or lack acute quality of
senses; but this failing rather softens the feline nature than becomes
dominant as a weakness.
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor_] [_Ealing._
SHORT-HAIRED TABBY.
This is perhaps the most famous cat now living. It has won no less than 200
prizes. Lady Decies is its owner.]
The nearest to perfection perhaps, and yet at the same time extremely soft
and finely made, is the BLUE CAT, rare in England as an English cat, but
common in most other countries, and called in America the Maltese Cat--for
fashion's sake probably, since it is too widely distributed there to be
localised as of foreign origin. It is out in the mining districts and
agricultural quarters, right away from the beaten tracks of humanity, where
the most wonderful breeds of cats develop in America; and caravan showmen
have told me that at one time it was quite a business for them to carry
cats into these wildernesses, and sell them to rough, hardy miners, who
dealt out death to each other without hesitation in a quarrel, but who
softened to the appeal of an animal which reminded them of homelier times.
One man told me that upon one occasion he sold eight cats at an isolated
mining township in Colorado, and some six days' journey farther on he was
caught up by a man on horseback from the township, who had ridden hard to
overtake the menagerie caravan, with the news that one of the cats had
climbed a monster pine-tree, and that all the other cats had followed in
his wake; food and drink had been placed in plenty at the foot of the tree,
but that the cats had been starving, frightened out of their senses, for
three days, and despite all attempts to reach them they had only climbed
higher and higher out of reach into the uppermost and most dangerous
branches of the pine. The showman hastened with his guide across country to
the township, only to find that in the interval one bright specimen of a
man belonging to the village had suggested felling the tree, and so
rescuing the cats from the pangs of absolute starvation, should they
survive the ordeal. A dynamite cartridge had been used to blast the roots
of the pine, and a rope attached to its trunk had done the rest and brought
the monster tree to earth, only, however, at the expense of all the cats,
for not one survived the tremendous fall and shaking. A sad and tearful
procession followed the remains of the cats to their hastily dug grave, and
thereafter a bull mastiff took the place of the cats in the township, an
animal more in character with the lives of its inhabitants.
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor_] [_Ealing._
LONG-HAIRED ORANGE.
A good specimen of this variety is always large and finely furred.]
Analogous to this case of the travelling menageries, we have the great
variety of blues, silvers, and whites which are characteristic of Russia.
There is a vast tableland of many thousands of miles in extent, intersected
by caravan routes to all the old countries of the ancients, and it is not
astonishing to hear of attempts being made to steal the wonderful cats of
Persia, China, and Northern India, as well as those of the many dependent
and independent tribes which bound the Russian kingdom. But it is a
remarkable fact that none but the blues can live in the attenuated
atmosphere of the higher mountainous districts through which they are taken
before arriving in Russian territory. It is no uncommon thing to find a
wonderful complexity of blue cats shading to silver and white in most
Russian villages, or blue cats of remarkable beauty, but with a dash of
tabby-marking running through their coats. Their life, too, is lived at the
two extremes. In the short Russian summer they roam the woodlands, pestered
by a hundred poisonous insects; in the winter they are imprisoned within
the four walls of a snow-covered cottage, and are bound down prisoners to
domesticity till the thaw sets in again. Many of the beautiful furs which
come to us from Russia are really the skins of these cats, the preparation
of which for market has grown into a large and thriving industry. The
country about Kronstadt, in the Southern Carpathian Mountains of Austria,
is famous for its finely developed animals; and here, too, has grown up a
colony of sable-coloured cats, said to be of Turkish origin, where the
pariahs take the place of cats.
[Illustration: _Photo by C. Reid_] [_Wishaw, N.B._
MANX.
These tailless cats are well known; they were formerly called "Cornwall
cats." Note the length of the hind legs, which is one of the
characteristics of this variety of the domestic cat.]
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor_] [_Ealing._
SIAMESE.
These strikingly coloured cats are now fairly numerous in England, but
command high prices. They have white kittens, which subsequently become
coloured.]
[Illustration: BLUE LONG-HAIRED, OR PERSIAN.
This cat belonged to Queen Victoria.]
[Illustration: SILVER PERSIANS.
Three of Mrs. Champion's celebrated cats.]
The TABBY is remarkable to us in that it is characteristic of our own
country, and no other colour seems to have been popular until our own
times. If you ask any one which breed of cat is the real domestic cat, you
will be told the tabby, probably because it is so well known to all. The
complexity of the tabby is really remarkable, and for shape and variety of
colouring it has no equal in any other tribe of cat. It has comprised in
its nature all the really great qualities of the feline, and all its worst
attributes. You can truthfully say of one of its specimens that it attaches
itself to the individual, while of another in the same litter you will get
an element of wildness. A third of the same parents will sober down to the
house, but take only a passing notice of people. You can teach it anything
if it is tractable, make it follow like a dog, come to whistle, but it will
have its independence.
[Illustration: _Photo by E. Landor_] [_Ealing._
LONG-HAIRED CHINCHILLA.
Note the beautiful "fluffiness" of this cat's fur.]
The SAND-COLOURED CAT, with a whole-coloured coat like the rabbit, which we
know as the ABYSSINIAN or BUNNY CAT, is a strong African type. On the Gold
Coast it comes down from the inland country with its ears all bitten and
torn away in its fights with rivals. It has been acclimatised in England,
and Devonshire and Cornwall have both established a new and distinct tribe
out of its parentage. The MANX CAT is nearly allied to it, and a hundred
years ago the tailless cat was called the Cornwall Cat, not the Manx.
Siam sends us a regal animal in the SIAMESE ROYAL CAT; it has a brown face,
legs, and tail, a cream-coloured body, and mauve or blue eyes. The Siamese
take great care of their cats, for it is believed that the souls of the
departed are transmitted into the bodies of animals, and the cat is a
favourite of their creed; consequently the cats are highly cultivated and
intelligent, and can think out ways and means to attain an end.
I have tried for years to trace the origin of the LONG-HAIRED or PERSIAN
CATS, but I cannot find that they were known to antiquity, and even the
records of later times only mention the SHORT-HAIRED. European literature
does not give us an insight into the subject; and unless Chinese history
holds some hidden lights in its records, we are thrown back upon the myths
of Persia to account for the wonderful modern distribution of the
long-haired cat, which is gradually breeding out into as many varieties as
the short-haired, with this difference--that greater care and trouble are
taken over the long-haired, and they will, as a breed, probably soon
surpass the short-haired for intelligence and culture.
[Illustration: _Photo by H. Trevor Jessop._
THE "BUN" OR "TICKED" SHORT-HAIRED CAT.
This is one of the rarest cats in England. It belongs to Miss K. Maud
Bennett who has kindly had it photographed for this work.]
One variety is quite new and distinctive--the SMOKE LONG-HAIRED, whose dark
brown or black surface-coat, blown aside, shows an under-coat of blue and
silver, with a light brown frill round its neck. All the other long-haired
cats can pair with the short-haired for colouring and marking, but I have
not yet seen a BUNNY LONG-HAIRED.
----