Unlike the other Lynxes, the Caracal is made use of as a hunting animal, being occasionally trained to stalk the Peafowl, Hares, Kites, Crows, Cranes, &c. It is, however, a most savage animal in captivity. The specimen in the London Zoological Gardens seems to be in a permanent state of ill-temper. If the American Lynx, which is unfortunate enough to live in the same cage with him, dares to come “betwixt the wind and his nobility,” or even if he, in the course of his peregrinations, should by chance get sufficiently near his companion to be annoyed with the sight of so vulgar a beast, he immediately arches his back, lays back his ears, uncovers his great canines, and swears in the most fearful manner, until the other unlucky animal is quite cowed, and looks as meek as its feline nature will allow it, evidently deprecating the anger of my lord, and although not conscious of having done wrong, quite ready to promise faithfully never to do it again. THE CHEETAH.[59] The Hunting Leopard, or Cheetah, is the last member of the Cat family, and is distinguished from the foregoing forms of the group by its long legs, the peculiar form of the flesh tooth of the upper jaw, and by the fact that its claws are less perfectly retractile than those of other cats, owing to the excessive length of the elastic ligaments. So much struck have some observers been with the variation of the Cheetah from the ordinary feline type, that it has been named _Cynælurus_, or Dog-Cat, a very inappropriate name, as the animal is a Cat all over, as any one will see who will take the trouble to look at the specimens in the Zoological Gardens. No Dog has that round face, long tail, and supercilious, almost arrogant, expression. The Cheetah is about four feet and half long from tip of snout to root of tail. The latter appendage is two feet and a half in length, and the height of the animal at the shoulder two feet and a half to two and three-quarters. The hide is of a bright reddish fawn-colour, and covered with numerous black spots, which are single, and not arrayed in rosettes, as in the Leopard, Jaguar, Ocelot, &c. The appearance of the face is very characteristic, owing to a black stripe which passes down the cheek in a sort of sigmoid curve, from the corner of the eye to the angle of the mouth. The tail has black spots and a black tip. The body is slender and small in the loins like a Greyhound’s.