The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Wildcat

WILDCAT, any of the smaller species of feline animals (family Felidæ, q.v.) in its feral condition; a lynx. The term is a general one applying to all the smaller felines; but locally has usually some specific application. Thus in European books and speech the “wildcat” properly and ordinarily means Felis catus, formerly well known in all forested districts from the British Isles to Siberia, and still to be found in the less settled districts of the Continent south of Sweden, though extinct in Great Britain, France and Italy; it is also numerous in northern Scotland. The wildcat is larger, heavier and more strongly built than the domestic cat (to which it has contributed little, if anything: see Cat), has a stouter head and shorter and thicker tail, which does not taper; besides other peculiarities. Its body is yellowish gray, with a dark stripe along the spine, and with numerous darkish stripes descending more or less vertically down the sides, marking the limbs transversely and forming rings around the tail. It is noted for its savagery, and thoroughly tamed examples are very rare, if any ever existed. Like most of the wild felines the female makes her nest in a hollow tree, or cleft of rocks, in an abandoned crow's nest, or some similarly convenient place, and brings forth there in early summer an annual litter of young, which show the ferocity of their native disposition from the start.

Lynxes. — The other European wildcat and the North American wildcats are lynxes, formerly set apart in a separate genus (Lynx); but most modern zoologists do not do so. “The lynxes,” says Mivart, “are animals which present a markedly different aspect from that of other cats. Their legs are long, and their tail is, with one exception (that of the caracal), very short. Their ears also are tufted at the tip. The pupil is linear when contracted. The orbits are incompletely surrounded by bone. They have no tooth representing the common cat's first upper premolar, while that answering to its second upper premolar is largely developed. The intestines are also very short . . . Still the above given characters are variable in the cat group. In some cats other than lynxes the tail is short, and some have the ears more or less penciled. Some, as we have seen, have long legs, and in many the upper premolar is wanting. The lynxes, therefore, cannot be separated off as a nominally distinct group of genus. The lynxes are very variable in their color and markings, and the Northern lynx also varies greatly in the abundance of its hair, according to the season, the animal having a very different aspect in winter from that which it presents in summer. The Norther lynxes are generally reckoned as forming two species, one belonging to the Old World (F. borealis), and at least one species belonging to the New (F. canadensis). The American forms are often also described as alone constituting three species — namely, F. canadensis, F. rufa, and F. maculata. After a careful examination . . . I am, however, not only quite unable to regard the American varieties, as anything more than varieties, but I am inclined to the opinion that there can be no real specific distinctness between the Northern lynxes of the two hemispheres, their skulls as well as their skins being so much alike.”

The European lynx is still found in northern Scandinavia, Russia and eastward, and in some of the wilder mountain chains of central Europe. It is reddish gray, as a rule, indistinctly spotted or not at all, most prominently when young. A large one will measure 40 inches from the snout to the root of the short, thick tail. The lynx of northern America is very similar, the color grading from nearly uniform grizzly gray in far northern specimens which are the largest in average size, toward the reddish and yellowish, more or less spotted southern specimens, which run much smaller: these colors are always brighter in summer than in winter. The long hair depending from the cheeks is characteristic of the group, especially in old males, and gives a very grim aspect to the countenance. These variations, which are local in some of their manifestations, have led the more recent school of American zoologists, led by Merriam, to name several species and subspecies. Thus the Canadian lynx (F. canadensis) is not regarded as findable south of Canada, and is characterized by its long gray unspotted coat. The lynxes or “bobcats” of the United States generally are F. rufa, yellowish brown spotted on the sides, with dark brown, and having other markings; a subspecies (maculata), more profusely spotted, extends the range of the cat to the Pacific Coast; and various other subspecies, distinguished by color, are found in the Gulf States and westward to Central America. All have substantially the same rapacious qualities and habits, varying with the character of the country and climate in which each variety lives, and the kind of small animals upon which they must depend for food. They are chiefly solitary and nocturnal; and soon disappear from all well-settled regions.

African and Asiatic Wildcats. — The Egyptian or gloved cat (F. caligata) is the most interesting of the Old World wildcats, because it is the source, or main source, of our domestic races. (See Cat). It inhabits northern Africa, and is about a third smaller than the European wildcat; it is yellowish, growing nearly white on the belly, and has obscure stripings on the body, limbs and tail, which is rather long, slender and tipped with black, while the feet are usually blackish. Another well-known African cat is the large, long-legged serval (F. serval) found throughout the whole Continent. It becomes as much as 40 inches long from nose to root of tail, and the tail may be 16 inches in length. In color it is tawny, with black spots, forming two irregular bands along the back, and black rings on the tail; its fur is a valuable commodity. Three or four other species dwell along the West African Coast, as the rare red-brown “golden-haired” cat (F. rutila), the smaller gray, spotted, F. neglecta, and the more yellowish F. servalina, but none is well known.

Asia and the Malayan archipelago have a large number of wildcats, some of which when better known may prove to be more local varieties of other species. The most familiar are the common Indian wildcat (F. torquata), which has much resemblance to the European one, but is more slender, a brighter fulvous in tint and less striped. Another wide-ranging species in India is the chaus, or jungle cat (F. chaus), about 26 inches long to the tail, which measures 9 to 10 inches and drops to the heels. It is yellowish gray, more or less dark and unspotted, more reddish on the sides, where it unites with the lower parts; a dark stripe extends from the muzzle to the eye, and there are faint bars on limbs and tail. A very similar species, restricted to the arid plains of northern India, is the “ornate” jungle-cat (F. ornata). Another large East Indian cat, known from Nepal to Borneo, but nowhere numerous, is called the baycat (F. aurata), in reference to its bay-red color, which is unspotted and becomes whitish on the under surfaces. India also has several spotted cats, of which the best known is the widely distributed fishing-cat (F. viverrina), which may be 30 to 32 inches long in body, with a tail 9 to 10 inches long; it feeds mainly on fish, snails and other mollusks, yet is noted for its fierceness, and has even been known to seize and carry away small native children. This cat is dark gray in general color, profusely spotted and striped with blackish like a civet. Smaller, more yellowish and much spotted, is the Indian leopard-cat (F. bengaliensis) which occurs in all parts of India and eastward to Java. Resembling it, but smaller, is the rare wagati; but more distinct and richly ornamented is the tiger-cat (F. marmorata), whose tawny coat is marbled or clouded with elongate wavy black lines and commingling spots. It is of small size, but has a very long spotted tail. In the jungles of southern India the sportsman encounters about grassy places a small handsome species, with slender body and head, and rather short legs and long tail, called the rusty-spotted cat (F. rubiginosa), which is greenish gray with white under parts, and has dark stripes and lines of small spots extending from nose to rump, and pretty white marks about the face. A similar species (F. chinensis) belongs to southern China and Formosa; and several others in the Malayan region. It is quite likely that future increase of knowledge and connecting specimens will bring them all under one name. In Borneo, however, lives a very distinct little cat (F. badia), tinted bright chestnut, white on the breast and belly, and without markings, except a few on the face, and a streak on the long tapering tail. The flat-headed cat (F. planiceps) of Malacca, Sumatra and Borneo, is another distinct form. It is about the size of a domestic cat, but the body is unusually long, the neck short and thick, the head globular and flat on top, the legs remarkably short and the tail short and thick. Its fur is dark-brown above, each hair tipped with white, and it is spotted white on the lower parts, with yellow lines forming a V on the face. Central Asia has several notable wildcats, as the manul (F. manul), the steppe cat (F. caudatus), and Tibetan tiger-cat (F. scripta), all of which are handsomely striped or spotted, or both.

American Tropical Cats. — South and Central America are the home of a large variety of small felines, as well as of the puma and jaguar. Of these the most notable are the eyra, ocelot, and jaguarondi (qq.v.) elsewhere described. In addition to these are several of much local interest. The margay or chati (F. tigrina) is a widespread and variable species, which is met with from Mexico to Paraguay, in warm and well-wooded lowland regions. Its fur may be a grizzly gray, or vary from that to a fox-red, profusely marked with black spots and rings, which extend along the tail, but do not form rings. There are three upright bars upon each cheek. The margay measures about two feet in length of body, and its tail about 11 inches. Geoffroy's cat (F. guigna) is a little known species of southern Brazil. The Pampas cat or straw-cat (F. pajeras) is a well-marked form. It is much larger and more robust than a house-cat, with short thick legs, a short, club-shaped tail, thick neck and small head, with great round eyes and very small ears. This appearance of weight and size is largely due to the unusual length of the hair, which is yellowish gray, marked with transverse brownish bands on the body, patches on the face and rings around the tail. It inhabits the open plains of Argentina, and with similar habits has become a curious counterpart of the manul of the Asiatic steppes.

Bibliography. — Mivart, ‘The Cat’ (New York 1892); Elliot, ‘Monograph of the Felidæ’ (London 1878-83); Hamilton, ‘The Wildcat of Europe’ (London 1896); Blanford, ‘Fauna of British India — Mammals’ (London 1888); ‘Zoology of Persia’ (London 1876); Blythe, ‘Monograph of the Species of Lynx’ (Calcutta 1846); Stone and Cram, ‘American Animals’ (New York 1902); and standard authorities.

EUROPEAN WILDCAT (Felis Catus)