The Ocelot is about equal in size to the last-named, and equally prized for its beautiful skin, which is clouded with an admixture of spots and stripes upon a ground of yellowish-grey. It belongs to Spanish America--more especially Mexico: and it is said to have been this animal that is represented on the hieroglyphical paintings of the ancient Aztecs. More probably its nobler congener, the jaguar, which is also found in Mexico, is the animal that held this distinction in the land of Anahuac. In Central and South America there are a great many species of striped and spotted cats, known generally as tiger cats. The Ocelot is one of these; but there are also the Pampas cats, the Chati, the Jaguarundi, the Margay, the False Margay, and many others. Numerous species, too, exist in the forests of India; as also in the great tropical islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines. There is yet a section of the cat family to be described. These are the lynxes, or cats with short tails and long ears--the latter erect, and at the tips pointing inward, or towards each other. Of the _Lynxes_ three species are found in North America. The largest of these is the Canada lynx, which in point of size approaches the smaller species of leopards. The colour of this animal is of a reddish grey, with spots very indistinctly marked. Its fur is long, and its skins form one of the principal articles of the Hudson's Bay trade. The Canada lynx is not found so far south as the United States; but its place is there occupied by the Bay lynx--a smaller species, and one very similarly marked, except that the rufous tint on the back and sides of the latter is deeper, and the spots more pronounced. Still further south is a third species, only made known to naturalists within the last few years. It inhabits Texas, and is hence called the Texan lynx. It is of a darker red than either of the preceding; but in other respects--size, shape, and habits--it is almost identical with the Bay lynx. Both range to the Pacific. Of the lynxes of the Old World, there is the common or European lynx, which is still found in several European countries; the Caracal, a native of Africa and part of Asia; the Booted lynx, also indigenous to both continents; the Chaus, belonging to the country of the Mahrattas; the Kattlo, a large species, of Northern Europe; the Nubian lynx, of North Africa; and the Southern lynx, a native of Spain. It may be added that there is scarce one of these species of which there are not two or more varieties, known only to those who have made a study of the Kingdom of Nature. CHAPTER NINE. RATS AND OTHER RODENTS.