This species, which is often called the Tiger Cat, is described by Buffon as the most beautiful of the animals of its tribe, and it must be confessed that the great French naturalist had some reason for so speaking of it. It measures about three feet in length, exclusive of the tail; the colour of the upper parts and sides is a tawny grey, beautifully marked with irregular streaks and spots of black, and the whole lower parts are nearly white. The Ocelot is a native of the forests of tropical America, where it climbs the trees with great agility in pursuit of monkeys and birds.
THE CHEETAH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD.
(Felis jubata.)
The Hunting Leopard seems to form the connecting link between the cat and the dog tribes; as it has the long tail and flexible body of the cat, with the sharp nose and elongated limbs of the dog. Its claws also are not capable of being so completely drawn back into the toes as they can in other animals of the cat kind. The Cheetah is easily tamed, and Cuvier describes one which was accustomed to go at large in a park, and associated with the children and domestic animals, purring like a cat when pleased, and mewing when he wished to call attention to his wants. In the East the Cheetah is used in hunting, and is carried in a carriage, or chained on a pad behind the saddle of a horseman, with a hood over his eyes: when a herd of antelopes is found, the hood is taken off the Cheetah, who is let loose, and as soon as he sees the antelopes, steals cautiously along, till he comes within reach, when he springs suddenly upon them; making several bounds with the greatest rapidity, till he has killed his victim, when he begins instantly to suck its blood. The keeper then approaches, and throwing the Cheetah some pieces of raw meat, contrives to hoodwink and chain him again to his pad behind the saddle, on which he crouches like a dog. If the Cheetah is not successful in catching an antelope before the herd takes flight, he never pursues them, but returns to his keeper with a discontented and sullen air.