The male lynxes are much larger and handsomer than the females, weighing some 42 to 50 lbs. The ground-colour of both is warm tawny-brown, but on the males the spots are fewer, larger, and more defined.
Wild-Cat (Felis catus).
Spanish: Gato montés, Gato castellano, or romano.
As above remarked, the young wild-cats are quite the most ferocious and utterly untameable beasts of which we have had any experience; the mixture of fear and fury they exhibit in captivity is indescribable, even when only a few weeks old.
Wild-cats are common throughout Spain wherever rabbits abound. In the sierras, they breed in crags and rabbit-burrows; on the plains the young are often produced in nests built in trees, or among the tall bamboos in the cane-brakes.
Weight of an old tom 10¼ lbs., of a female 8½ lbs. In some examples the fur of the underparts is of a warm tawny hue. The general colour of the wild-cat is a brindled grey, with black stripes.
Genet (Viverra genetta).
Spanish: Gineta.
A beautiful beast, with clear grey fur, blotched with big black spots, a long tail, and a head more like a fox-terrier than a cat: common in all the southern provinces, and as far north as Old Castile; at La Granja, and in the provinces of Avila and Segovia. Not found (we believe) in Asturias or Santander.
The genet lives in holes in rocks and crags, and in large woods. In winter, we have shot them when beating the sallows and cane-brakes for woodcock. It feeds on small rodents and young birds, occasionally, like the polecat, plundering hen-roosts, when it eats the brains of its numerous victims, and leaves the body untouched. In autumn, when the grapes are ripe, it is said to be very fond of a feast in the vineyards; but its principal food consists of mice and moles. It is considered a better cazador than even the lynx, wily as a fox, and twisting as a snake.
Our friend Manuel de la Torre killed three genets in Estremadura that were entirely black, and rather smaller than the average. One of these specimens is in the Madrid Museum.