Audubon's Mammals/MAMMALS1_3.BIN/dp/0014/00147.txt

Text File | 1992-08-25 | 10KB | 199 lines

$Unique_ID{QAD00147}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Ocelot; Leopard-Cat}
$Subject{Ocelot; Leopard-Cat; Felis; Pardalis}
$Journal{Quadrupeds of North America:  Volume II}
$Volume{Vol. 2:258-262}
$Genus{Felis}
$Species{Pardalis}
$Common_Name{Ocelot; Leopard-Cat}
$Log{
Plate LXXXVI*00147P1.scf
Genus*00146.txt}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       A U D U B O N ' S   M A M M A L S

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. S., &c. &c.

                                       AND

                      The Rev. John Bachman, D. D., &c. &c.

                   -------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  II.
                        --------------------------------


                             FELIS PARDALIS.--Linn.


                            OCELOT, OR LEOPARD-CAT.


                      PLATE LXXXVI.--MALE.--Winter Pelage.


     F. Magnitudine.  Lynx rufus.  Cana. (s. potius flava), maculis ocellaribus
magnis fulvis nigro-limbatis, in lateribus facias oblequas formantibus; fronte
striis 2 lateribus nigricantibus cauda corporis longitudine dimedia.


                                  CHARACTERS.

     Size of the Bay Lynx; general colour gray, marked with large fawn-coloured
spots, bordered with black, forming oblique bands on the flanks; two black lines
bordering the forehead laterally.


                                   SYNONYMES.

     FELIS PARDALIS.  Linn., p. 62.
     FELIS PARDALIS.  Harlan's Fauna, p. 96.
     FELIS PARDALIS.  Cuv. An. King., vol. 2, p. 476.
     FELIS PARDALIS.  Griffith's An. King., vol. 5, p. 167.
     FELIS PARDALIS.  Shaw's Zoology, vol. 2d, p. 356.


                                  DESCRIPTION.

     Head, short; neck, long and thin; body, long and slender; tail, rather
thick, and of moderate size; hair, rather soft, and not very dense.


                                    COLOUR.

     The outer surface of the ear is black, with a white patch beneath; chin and
throat white, with a black bar immediately beneath the chin, and another under
the neck.  On the chest and under surface, white, with irregular black patches.
There are small black spots disposed on the head, surrounded by reddish-brown, a
black line runs longitudinally on the sides of the head to the neck.  The whole
back is marked with oval figures, and in some specimens with longitudinal black
stripes edged with fawn-colour.  Upper surface of the tail irregularly barred
with black and white, the extremity black.
     Specimens vary much in their markings, and we have not found two precisely
alike.


                                  DIMENSIONS.

     Male, procured by Col. HARNEY in Texas, seven miles from San Antonio,
December, 1845.
                                                               Feet.   Inches.

     From point of nose to root of tail, .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  2       11
     Tail, .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  1        3
     Height from nails to shoulder,.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  1        2
     Height of ear posteriorly  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .           1 3/4

Female.
                                                               Feet.   Inches.

     Length of head and body .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  2        4
     Length of tail .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  1        1
     From nose to shoulder,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  1        1


                                    HABITS.

     Before describing the habits of this beautiful species, we must enter into
the difficult task of separating it from several other spotted, leopard-like
cats, that have been confounded with it.  Of these, the most similar in
appearance is perhaps the Felis mitis, which is found in the tropical portions
of North America, and in the warmer parts of South America.
     The Felis mitis has in fact been figured, and described by SHAW, Vol. 2, p.
356, (unless we deceive ourselves), as the Ocelot, (our present species) while
his figure of the Jaguar, (opposite p. 354), is probably drawn from the Ocelot,
although so poor a figure as to be hardly recognisable.  The descriptions and
figures of the Ocelot, that we find in old works on natural history, are so
confusing and unsatisfactory, that we are obliged to throw aside all reference
to them in establishing any one of the feline tribe as our animal, and leave the
reader to decide whether BUFFON, speaking of the Ocelot, as two feet and a-half
high and about four feet in length, meant the subject of our article, which is
only two feet-six inches long from nose to root of tail, the Felis mitis, or the
Jaguar; and whether PENNANT referred to the same animal, which he describes,
when speaking of the Ocelot, "as about four times the size of a large cat,"
(about the size of our specimen of the Ocelot).
     The description of this species in LINNAEUS is so short, that it is almost
equally applicable to either the Jaguar, the Ocelot, or Felis mitis:  "Felis
cauda elongata, corpora maculis superioribus virgatis, inferioribus
orbiculatis."  Sys. Nat. Gmel. p. 78.  BRISSON is also very concise in giving
the character of the Ocelot; F. rufa, in ventre exalbo flavicans, maculis nigris
in dorso longis, in ventre orbiculatis variegate."  Quadr. 169.  We are on the
whole inclined to consider the species described by PENNANT as the Mexican Cat,
the Ocelot or Leopard-Cat of the present article, and the larger animal
described by other authors, as the Felis mitis, as young of the Jaguar, or
perhaps females of this last named species, and we have not yet met with the
Felis mitis within our range, although we have seen such an animal alive in
New-York, one having been brought by sea from Yucatan.
     Our animal is quite well known in Texas as the Leopard-Cat, and in Mexico
is called the Tiger-Cat, it is in the habit of concealing itself in hollows in
trees, and also by squatting upon the larger branches.  It is rather nocturnal,
and preys upon the smaller quadrupeds, and on birds, eggs, &c., when they can be
seized on the ground.
     The activity and grace of the Leopard-Cat, are equal to the beauty of its
fur, and it leaps with case amid the branches of trees, or runs with swiftness
on the ground.  These Cats seldom stray far from woods, or thickets bordering on
rivers, streams, or ponds, very rarely lying on the hill-sides, or out on the
plains.
     They run like foxes, or wild-cats, when chased by the hunters with hounds
or other dogs, doubling frequently, and using all the stratagems of the gray
fox, before they take a straight course, but when hard pressed and fatigued,
they always ascend a tree, instead of running to earth.
     Like all the cat tribe, the Ocelot is spiteful when confined in a cage, and
snarls and spits at the spectator when he draws near; but we have never seen it
strike through the bars like the leopard, which sometimes inflicts severe wounds
on the incautious or fool-hardy person, who, to see it better, approaches too
closely its prison.
     According to our information, the Ocelot only has two young at a litter,
but we have not had an opportunity of ascertaining this point ourselves.
     The specimen from which our figure was drawn, was procured by Gen. HARNEY,
who sent it fresh killed to J. W. AUDUBON, then at San Antonio on an expedition
in search of the quadrupeds of Texas, for our work.  We here give an extract
from his journal.
     "But for the kindness of Col. HARNEY, I might never have made the drawing
of this most beautiful of all the North American feline race.  Col. HARNEY sent
for my trunks, and while I waited the return of the sergeant's guard, who went
to fetch them, I saw him daily.  He introduced me to Mrs. BRADLY, where he and
Capt. MYERS, afterwards my friend, boarded, and the lady of the house made it a
home to me.
     I was invited out to the camp, and as I talked of the animals I was most
anxious to procure, all seemed desirous to aid me.  Col. H