THE RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT.[37]
Mr. Jerdon says, “This very pretty little Cat frequents grass in the dry beds of tanks, brushwood, and occasionally drains in the open country and near villages, and is said not to be a denizen of the jungle. I had a kitten brought over when very young, and it became quite tame, and was the delight and admiration of all who saw it. Its activity was quite marvellous, and it was very playful and elegant in its motions. When it was about eight months old, I introduced it into a room where there was a small fawn of the Gazelle, and the little creature flew at it the moment it saw it, seized it by the nape, and was with difficulty taken off.” There is something marvellous in this destroying instinct. This kitten had, probably, never seen a Gazelle before in the whole course of its short life, but it at once recognised its prey, and all the savagery of its long line of ancestors was concentrated in the spring which landed it on the unlucky Gazelle’s neck.
The head and body of this species are together sixteen to eighteen inches long; the tail, nine inches and a half. The short, soft fur is a greenish-grey, with a faint rufous tinge, and marked with rusty-coloured spots, roundish on the sides, but, as usual, becoming elongated in the direction of the animal’s length, on the back. It is found in the Carnatic, and in the southern parts of Ceylon.
THE LEOPARD CAT.[38]
This is another of the numerous Indian Cats, and is a very beautiful species. Its hide is of a yellowish-grey, or bright tawny hue, quite white below, and marked with longitudinal stripes on the head, shoulders, and back, and with large irregular spots on the sides, which become rounded towards the belly. The tail is a spotted colour, indistinctly ringed towards the tip. The body, from the end of the snout to the tip of the tail, attains a length of from thirty-five to thirty-nine inches, eleven or twelve of which are made up by the tail.
BAY CAT.
“The Leopard Cat is found throughout the hilly region of India, from the Himalayas to the extreme south, and Ceylon, and in richly-wooded districts, at a low elevation occasionally, or when heavy jungle grass is abundant, mixed with forest and brushwood. It ascends the Himalayas to a considerable elevation, and is said by Hodgson even to occur in Tibet, and is found at the level of the sea in the Bengal Sunderbunds. It extends through Assam, Burmah, the Malayan peninsula, to the islands of Java and Sumatra, at all events.”[39]
It is as fierce as any of its savage kin. “A shikarie declared that it drops on large animals, and even on Deer” (remember that the animal is only two feet long!) “and eats its way into the neck; that the animal in vain endeavours to roll or shake it off, and at last is destroyed.” In confinement it is extremely savage, and, curiously enough, “it never paces its cage for exercise during the daytime, at least, but constantly remains crouched in a corner, though awake and vigilant.”