“The Wild Cat is now rarely found in the South of England, and even in Cumberland and Westmoreland its numbers are very much reduced. In the North of Scotland and Ireland it is still abundant.” The average length of a full-grown male specimen is, from snout to root of tail, about twenty-eight inches, the tail itself measuring about thirteen inches. The soft thick fur is of a grey colour, inclining to yellowish on the face, and being nearly white on the belly. There is a black band along the middle of the back, from which numerous dark-grey bands proceed in a transverse direction like the hoops of a barrel, gradually dying away as they reach the belly. The thick tail is ringed with grey and black. “The Wild Cat leads a solitary life; at most, two individuals are seen together. It even appears that the occupant of one district prevents access to it of any others. Its life is completely nocturnal, and has much analogy with that of the Lynx and of our own Domestic Cat. It climbs well, and mounts trees, either as a resting-place, or to escape from an enemy when there is no hole in which it can hide. Under this circumstance it ‘plays ’possum’ to the best of its ability, keeping close to a large branch, the colour of which, harmonising with that of its skin, contributes to conceal it from view. It does not commence its hunting operations until night has set in; and, in surprising the bird in its nest, the sitting Hare, the Rabbit in its burrow, and even the Squirrel on its tree, it displays a cunning unsurpassed by any of its tribe. When the quarry is a small animal, it leaps on its back and severs its carotids with its sharp teeth. It never pursues an animal which it has failed to reach at the first onslaught, but prefers to go in search of new prey; in a word, it has all the characters of a true Cat. Happily for hunters, its principal nutriment consists of Mice and small birds. It is only by accident that it seeks for larger animals; it is, however, certain that it sometimes attacks Fawns or small Roes. It keeps watch by the banks of lakes and streams for fish and birds, both of which it knows full well how to seize. It is extremely destructive in parks, and, above all, in covers, which it utterly depopulates in a very short time. Considering its size, the Wild Cat is a very dangerous Carnivore, its sanguinary nature inciting it to kill far more animals than it can possibly eat. For this reason all hunters detest it, and pursue it with perfect hatred. But no one seems to remember the services it renders to man in destroying small Rodents, and yet these services are undoubted. Tschudi relates that the remains of twenty-six Mice have been found in the stomach of a single individual of this species.”[46] [Illustration: EGYPTIAN CAT.]