F. tigrina, or Cayenne cat, resem bles the wild cat in size, habit, and cha racter ; is most elegantly spotted with black on a tawny ground, and is frequent ly to be found in various parts of South America. It is extremely wild and un tameable. The spotted species of this genus of animals have been often so im perfectly marked by travellers, that much remains to be done before a complete de scription of them can be obtained ; and the remoteness of their haunts from hu man habitations, which can be approach ed only amidst dangers insuperable by all but extraordinary minds and constitu tions, will, there is reason to presume, long preclude their correct definition and full detail.
F. catus, or the common cat. The nu merous varieties of the domestic cat are supposed to have proceeded from a race native in the north of Europe and Asia. In the wild state, its tail is somewhat shorter than in the state of domestica tion; its head is more flat, and its limbs are more muscular and bony. The ge neral colour of the wild cat is that of a pale yellowish-grey, with dusky stripes and variegations ; there are, however, great varieties both of colour and size. Wild cats are found not only in Europe and Asia, but also in America, where they existed before its discovery by Co. lumbus. In Great Britain they are found chiefly in the mountainous and woody districts of the Island ; and, as being the most rapacious quadrupeds in the country, have bee.' designated by Mr. Pennant as the British tigers. They range oy night in quest of prey, and commit fatal depredations on kids, poul try, and lambs ; they likewise devour hares, small birds, and various species of vermin. They breed and principally re side in trees ; and are equally prolific with the domestic cat. In the neigh bourhood of the former the latter will often quit his residence for a short time, and after associating during this interval with the wild cat, will return to its for mer mansion. These animals are fre quently destroyed by means both of traps and guns ; the latter of which mode, how ever, is attended with some danger, as, if only slightly wounded, they will, without hesitation, attack the assailant in their turn, and inflict no contemptible revenge. In the county of Cumberland one of these animals was killed, not many years since, which measured from its nose to the end of its tail upwards of five feet. The cat is generally imagined to see best in the dark ; and so peculiar is the structure of its eye, that the pupil is capable of con traction and dilatation, in proportion to the degree of light affecting it. This cir cumstance gives it a most important ad vantage in exploring and seizing its prey. The character and manners of these ani mals, in their state of domestication, are so generally known as almost to preclude the necessity of at all noticing them. Their ex pressions, whether of pain, anger, or love, are piercing, clamorous, and extremely harsh and hideous to the human ear. On the utterance of the sounds of distress by a single individual, multitudes will often assemble, and appear to express their compassion by the most disgusting squalls and yellings. The result, how. ever, frequently is, that the sufferer from disease or acciclent,from which the origi nal call proceeded, is torn to pieces by its companions, who, not uncommonly, afterwards fall upon each other with the most savage fierceness, inflicting wounds and death without the least sensibility or discrimination. These sanguinary con
tests are uniformly carried on by night, and instances are related, on respectable authority, in which they have been con ducted with the most destructive havoc. Cats are remarkably fond of certain per fumes, both vegetable or mineral ; and on this accountare often very injurious to a garden or green-house, destroying the plants to which they are so partial. Cold and wet are avoided by these creatures with particular care, and their habits are particularly neat and cleanly, their fur be. ing preserved by them, until in extreme age, from the slightest sail ; and the most elegant and splendid furniture being in no danger from annoyance by them. The female is frequentlyobliged to conceal her young from the male, to preclude their being injured and even devoured by him; yet, in some instances, the female herself has been ascertained, in opposition to one of the most grand and prevailing instincts of nature, to eat them immediately on producing them ; in general, however, the young are nursed with particular at tention and affection, and the accommo dation of the parent to the sportive pro pensities and varying gambols of the kit ten constitutes to the humane, and even the philosophic mind, an interesting spec tacle. With respect to human beings, even those which have long protected and befriended it, the cat appears little susceptible of kind attachment on the change of habitations, quitting the family with which it had always lived, and re turning to apartments to which, indeed, it had been long used, but where it could recognize no human friend. In this re spect its manners exhibit a most disad vantageous contrast to those of the dog, which are in the highest degree social, affectionate, and grateful. The cat, how ever, often lives in habits of friendly in tercourse with various animals in a state of similar domestication with itself, and to which, in a state of nature, it feels an al most unconquerable hostility. A French lady, of some eminence, by persevering attention and discipline, at length suc ceeded in accomplishing the extraordi nary exploit of habituating her dog and cat, her bird and mouse, to take their food from the same plate. Cats, though in general by no means profound sleep ers, often, and particularly in the depth of winter, and on the approach of snow, can be roused from their sleep only with extreme difficulty ; and will, on these oc casions, exhale a fragrance similar to that of cloves. On rubbing the backs of these animals the electric spark is imme diately felt, and the Leyden vial may, in frosty weather, be charged from this source, by means of a connecting wire and a glass-footed stool. Those who are pleased with contemplating the opera tions of animated surprise or curiosity, in any of the productions of nature, will be not a little entertained by the experiment of placing before a young cat, for the first time, a looking-glass ; its delight at the figure thus exhibited is soon allayed by that impossibility of touching it, which it funds to all its attempts ; it at length looks behind the glass, and with great sudden ness and vivacity shifts its examination both forwards and backwards, till at.last it appears to observe the correspendence between the reflections on the mirror and the movements of its own foot gliding in various directions over the surface, and seems to have developed the mystery originally so perplexing.