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Show 1871.] MR. E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH ON FELIS RUBIGINOSA. 757 The manners of Felis rubiginosa are, so far as I have had the means of observing them, those of the true Cats, shown by its stealthy walk and watchful looks above and around it; and I may add that the example I met with, although hit all over by a charge of large shot, fought hard for its life, and some minutes elapsed before I could safely lay m y hands upon it. It preys on birds and small quadrupeds. Although nowhere common in Ceylon, this Cat is found more frequently on the hills than elsewhere; and I have examined three specimens which were procured within a few miles of Kandy, probably at an elevation of from 1500 to 2000 feet. The hill-country, I may mention, occupies the centre of the southern two thirds of the island; and it is from that region that most of the rarer and peculiar members of the Ceylonese fauna are obtained. Jerdon speaks of this animal in India as especially frequenting open grassy places and the neighbourhood of villages, and also mentions, on his own authority and on that of correspondents, that hybrids are not unfrequently produced between this species and the domestic Cat. I have very little doubt that Felis rubiginosa, the animal I am now speaking of, is the one to which Jerdon refers; but I must say, from my own experience, and from what I have heard of the animal, that in Ceylon it is a true jungle Cat, and hybrids from it are there unknown. The specimen I shot was walking along one of the ordinary narrow game-paths in wild jungle, more than two miles from the nearest native dwelling; and although I knew of one instance in which it was killed very close to Kandy, that would not lead one to expect this Cat would be generally found in the neighbourhood of towns or villages ; for at Kandy the primitive jungle, that which has never been cleared or disturbed, is only separated by a little-frequented road from the gardens of the Governor's official residence; and taking the year round there is hardly any locality in the island which is so productive of rare and peculiar species of birds and quadrupeds as this particular jungle. I have thought it right to mention this, because the distribution and habitats of the Ceylon fauna do not appear to agree in all cases with what are found in other countries producing similar forms. To return to this Cat: the four examples I saw in the island (one of them killed by myself) agreed perfectly in the characteristic colour and markings of the species; the general ground-colour of the animals was a light greyish fawn, striped on the head and back, and spotted on the sides and legs with bright rusty brown. This general rusty colour of the markings has suggested its specific name, and it is generally known as the Red-spotted Cat. The late Dr. Kelaart, who with Mr. Edgar Layard did so much towards working out the natural history of Ceylon, mentions, however, in his 'Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae,' that specimens of this Cat from Nuwara Eliya (6000 feet) are darker-coloured and more spotted (probably he meant more distinctly spotted) than those from a less elevation ; and I now wish to bring before the Society what I believe is an undoubted example of Felis rubiginosa, but which differs so much from the typical character that hardly any trace of rust-colour is |