Full text |
FELIS CATUS.
THE EUROPEAN WILD CJ
jel Sy, Nat (1788) voi. pt. yp 0.
Mama, (1829) p. 207 sp. 22-—Jenyns, Man. Bt. Vert. Asi. (188) p 4
(tog. (880-61) vo ik AHL ph ie. Compl, Bul. 1899) vl. p A.
fh Death, p. 162—Lew. Nour Ta, Rgn. Anim. (1843) p 3.
Foun, Mann, (1846) p 130-—Ger, Hist Nat. Mar, (1
7
Ha: Cat Carn, Mat. (1869) p. 33. 5p. 13-—G
oth 160). 48-—Led, W Pant Aiton, Bre. ZL Sue. (1877)p. 272
PELIS SYLVESTRIS, Sete, Singth
‘CAT, Pen. Hist: Qad (1708) p. 295 5p. 195.—Bing. Brit. Quad. (1600) p 198. no. 1
Han. Great Britain. Irland? Western Europe generally, where extensive forests exist, Norther Asia. Asia Minor
(Daxron),
Daxroro obtained a male and a female of this Cat among the rocks near Zebil, in Asia Minor, at an elevation of 3000-4000
feet. According tothe natives, they arenot uncommon, They appear to subsist upon a species of mouse (Mus myetacinns)
fourteen of which were found in the stomach of one of these Cats. The skins of the Asia Minor specimens had the ground
colour a clearer grey, and the markings of the flanks more broken into dstinet spots than is seen in European examples
hut Teould discern nothing about them to indicate a form needing to be separated from the European Wild Cat
Fels catus, in many localities, is becoming seareer every year, and is gradually disappearing from some in whieh, not
Tong since, it was not uncommon, Various are the causes that have effected this; probably the chief one is the
constant persecution to which the animal las been subjected, as this species has but fev friend, and no quarter is
shown when it is met with in the forest. Bl, in his «History of British Quadrupeds,” states that this Wild Cat is
posessed of great strength, and is very feree, and to he obliged to encounter itis a matter not unattended with danger,
‘expecially if the creature is wounded. The female is rather snaller than the male. She constructs her nest in the hollow
of a tre of in cleft of the rocks, and, as related by Sir William Jardine, has even een known to make use of the nest of
some lange bird. The liter eonsists of four or five young. It is said that individuals from Russia and Norther Chin
are of larger size than those from southern countries, and the fur is held in great esteom. My friend the late E. R,
Alston sent me the following account of the distribution of this species in the British Islands :—*It is always dificult
todetermine the range of the Wild Cat, as it isso constantly confounded with domestic Cats run wild but it appears
to have been anciently widely distributed throughout Britain. Fossil remains have been found in various localities,
in brick-earth, in Essex, and in Kent's Hole, Devonshire (Owen, Brit, Foss- Mamm. p. 172). Itstil seems to linger in
some of the more secluded parts of the north and west of England, and in Wales. One w 9 Ib, taken on the
state of Bulk, Lancashire, is recorded in the *Zoologist’ for 1849, p. 3408. Mr. J. W. Jones stated, in the « Field” of nt
Jan. 1868, that a Wild Cat of 11 Ib. was trapped ia Montgomeryshire in Dee. 1864 (Zoologist, 1865, p. 9431
Rustieus” of Godalming, asserts in his “Letters” that “a real genuine Wild Cat* was taken near that place; but
the fact seems t0 require confirmation, In Seotland it appears never to have been an inkabitant of any of the islands,
although it is mentioned in Pennant’s “Tour” as a native of Arran (cf. Bryes's Geology of Arran, p. 313); and, s0
far as Tam aware, it is now completely extipated in all the counties south of the Forth and Clyde. North of that
Tine it is still not unffequent in some of the wilder mountainous districts, the most southern Timit of its range having til
lately been the shores of Loch Lomond, where, however, it has been exterminated within the last ten years. Mr
Macgillvray considered i tobe most abundant in the eounties of Perth, Aberdeen, and Argyle (Nat. Libr. vol. xvi. p. 194) |