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 inchesand 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.