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FELIS ORNATA.
THE DESERT-CAT.
FELIS ORNATA, 6 Ind Zoo (18) 418 Aon. & Mag, Not. Hs (1852)
(HAUS PULCHELLUS, Gray, Cat Mam, Bit Mos. (1842) p45
CCHAUS SERVALINUS, i.
PRLIS (CATOLYNX) TORQUATA, Severs. Rev et Mag. Zol (1855) p87
FELIS HUTTONI, Bish, MS
FELIS TORQUATA, Horst Cat Mamm Mes. End Co. (1851) p. 49 4p: #1—Blyth, Pros. Zol Soe. (1869) p85, sp. 16—Jerd. Masi.
CHAUS ORNATUS, JE. Gry, Pree
Mam (180) p
x. Akad. Wis. Wie, (1868) le. 176-—Gray, Cat. Cara.
Han. Dokhun, and other parts of India (Honsviznn). Desert regions of North-west India, Dukhun, Hazara country
Guxmn).
‘Tus is very peculiar and well-defined species of this family, and was frst deseribed by Dr. J. B. Gray (Le). Tei es
tally desert-animal, and lives among the sandhill or barren plans. According t'Jerdon the furs rather dense, and
markings much brighter and more distinct in some specimens than in others P Hatton feom the
ea eee ee et eae eee aE
logs. Dr, Scott, who sent examples from the district of Harriana, near Hansi, states that it is very common, frequenting
acral seas me Fae eer ae eee eta
hades of colour, and the spots with a tendeney to run int stripes, especially onthe limbs. Jerdon says that he has procured
itat Hissar, where itis common, at Mhow, not searee, at Saugor, and rarely near Nagpore; but it does not seem to extend
into the Gangetie valley, and to the south of the Nerbudda it is rare. At Hissar it frequents the low sandhills and. bare
fields, and appears to feed chiely on the Gerboa Rat (Gerills indicus). ‘This Cat is abroad during the entire day in op
rund, and is not apparently very nosturmal in its habits. ‘The animal called F. torguata by Sykes is, without much
‘oubt, x hybrid, as he states it inhabits the grass roofs of houses, and thick hedges, and is constantly on the alert at
habits very different fiom those of the pure wild species.
Tm his “Catalogue of the Mammals in the Fast-India Company's Museum’ Mr. Horsield has placed this Cat under the
name of F. torquata, Cuvier, given to a domestic or hybrid individual, and includes as synonyms entirely dies
such as F bengalenss, Supposing that Mr. Horsield had the true Desert-Cat, and not a hybrid, in his colle
Blyth, ina footnote to his commu
al Society’ for 1863, states that
not scen the specimen), I have placed his name also as a synonym of F. orna
nication on the species of the genus Felis, published in the “Proceedings of the Zoolo
Dr, Seott assured him of the occurrence at Hansi of hybrids with F. ornata, and that many of the domestic Cats of that
prt of India were undistingushable from the wild F. ornata, just as some of those of the Scottish highlands are from the
European wild Cat.
Gray's description ofthis species iw fllows:—
“Fur ahort, pale whitish brown, black-potted. Spots small; on the middle of the buck smaller, linear; on the front
cx larget, oblong; on the hinder part of the sides smal, round; on the thighs and upper part of the legs
interrupted cross bands, ‘wil reaching rather below the heel, pale at the lower hl with some
fnterrupted black tings at the end, which is whiter than the rest of the tail, the tip black. Crown with lines of small |