Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

F E L ( 586 ) F E L
dirpofed in groups. He is larger than the once, and lefs
than the panther. The manners and difpofition of the
leopard are nearly the fame with thofe of the panther.
He is never tamed or employed in hunting. The pan¬
ther, once, and leopard, are inhabitants of Africa and
the warmer regions of Afia. In general, thefe animals
delight in thick forefls, and frequent the banks of rivers,
and thq neighbourhood of folitaty villages, where they
lie in wait to furprife domeltic animals and the wild beads
that come in quelt of water. They feldom attack men,
even when provoked. With regard to their Ikins, they
are all valuable, and make excellent furs.
6. The Lynx is about at feet long and 15 inches high.
He has a great refemblance to the cat; but his ears are
longer, and his tail is much fhorter ; his l>air is ftreaked.with
yellow, white, and black colours. The lynx is an in¬
habitant of Mufcovy. Poland, Canada, &c. his eyes are
brilliant, his afpeft is foft, and his air is gay and fpright-
ly; like the cat, he covers his urine with earth; he
howls fomething like the wolf, and is heard at a confide-
rable diftance; he does not run like the dog or wolf, but
■walks and leaps like a cat; he purfues his prey even to
the tops of trees; neither wild-cats nor fquirrels can e-
fcapehim; he lies in wait for dags, goats, hares, <bc.
and darts fuddenly upon them; he feizes them by the
throat and fucks their blood, then opens the head and
eats the brain; after this, he frequently leaves them
and goes in qued of frefh prey ; the colour of his (kin
changes according to the feafon or the climate; the win¬
ter furs are more beautiful than thofe of fummer.
7. The Cat, is a well-known domedic animal, and
therefore requires no particular defeription. The wild¬
cat, the cat of Angora, <bc. differ only in the length of
their hair, and fome fmall varieties arifing from climate
and their manner of living.
Of all domedic animals, the chara&er of the cat is
the mod equivocal and fufpicious. He is kept, not for
any amiable qualities, but purely with a view to banifh
rats, mice, and other noxious animals from our houfes,
granaries, he. Although cats, when young, are playful
and gay, they poffefs at the fame time an innate malice
and perverfe difpofition, which increafes as they grow up,
and which education learns them to conceal, but never to
fubdue. Condantly bent upon theft and rapine, though
jn a domedic date, they are full of cunning and diffimula-
tion; they conceal all their defigns ; feize every oppor¬
tunity of doing mifehief, and then fly from punifhment.
They eafily take on the habits of fociety, but never its
manners ; for they have only the appearance of friendfhip
and attachment. This difingenuity of charadler is be¬
trayed by the obliquity of their movements, and the am¬
biguity of their looks In. a word, the cat is totally
deditute of friendfhip; he thinks and arts for himfelf a-
lone. He loves eafe, fearches for the foftefl and warm¬
ed places to repofe himfelf. The cat is likewife extreme¬
ly amorous; and, which is very Angular, the female is
more ardent than the male; die not only invites, but
fearches after and calls upon him to fatisfy the fury of her
defires; and, if the male difdains or flies from her, die
purfues, bites, and in a manner compels him. This heat
of paflion in females lads but nine or ten days, and hap¬
pens twice in the year, namely in the fpring and autumn;
however, in fome it happens thrice or four times in
the year. The female goes with young 55 or 56 days,
and generally produces four or five at a litter. As the
male has an inclination to dedroy the young, the female
takes care to conceal them from him ; and, when fhe is
apprehenfive of a difeovery, die takes them up in her
mouth one by one, and hides them in holes or inagceflible
places. When die has nurfed -a few weeks, die brings
them mice, fmall birds, he. in order to learn them to
eat flefh. But, it is worth notice, that thefe careful and
tender mothers fometimes become unnaturally cruel, and
devour their own offspring.
The cat is incapable of redraint, and confequently of
being educated to any extent. However, we are told,
that the Greeks in the ifland of Cyprus trained this ani¬
mal to catch and devour ferpents, with which that ifland
was greatly infeded. This however was not the effeifl of
obedience, but of a general tade for daughter; for he de¬
lights in watching, attacking, and dednying all kinds of
weak animals indifferently. He has no delicacy of feent,
like the dog; he hunts only by the eye : neither does he
properly purfue ; he only lies in wait, and attacks animals
by furprife : and after he has caught them, he fports with
and torments them a long time, and at lad kills them
(when his belly is full) purely to gratify his fanguinary
appetite.
The eye of the cat differs greatly from that of mod
other animals. The pupil is capable of a great degree of
contradlion and dilatation; it is narrow and contrafted
like a line during the day, round and wide in the dark ;
it is from this conformation of the eye that the cat fees
bed in the night, which gives him a great advantage in
difcjvering and feizing his prey.
Although cats live in our houfes, they can hardly be
called domedic animals ; they may rather be faid to en¬
joy full liberty ; for they never aft but.according to their*
own inclination. Befides, the greated part of them are
half wild ; they do not know their maders, and frequent
only the barns, out-houfes, he. unlefs when prefled with
hunger.
Cats have a natural antipathy at water, cold, and bad
fmells. They love to bade in the fun, and lie in warm,
places. They Ivke^jfehavean affeftion for certain aromatic,
fmells ; they are tranfported with the root of the valerian..
Cats take about eighteen months before they come to
their full growth ; but they are capable of propagation in
twelve months, and retain this faculty all their life,,
which generally extends to nine or ten years. They eat
flowly, and are peculiarly fond of fifhes They drink
frequently; their deep is light; and they often aflume
the appearance of deeping, when in reality they are me¬
ditating mifehief. They walk foftly, and without ma¬
king any noife. As their hair is always dry, it eafily!
gives out an eleftrical fire, which becomes vifible when
rubbed a-crofs in the dark. Their eyes likewife fparkle
in the dark like diamonds.
The wild, or favage cat, couples with the dcmeflic
one, and is confequently the fame fpecies, It is not un-
ufual for domedic cats, both male and female,, when di-
mulated by love, to repair to the woods in qued of thefe