Volume 1

The viviparous quadrupeds of North America / By John Audubon ... and ... the Rev. John Bachman ... [Text].

  • John James Audubon
Date:
1846-1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The viviparous quadrupeds of North America / By John Audubon ... and ... the Rev. John Bachman ... [Text]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sides of the neck, and unite with the ruff, which is black, mixed with yel- lowish-brown and gray hairs. The female is considerably smaller than the male, her body more slen- der, and her movements have a stronger resemblance, in their lightness and agility, to those of the common house-cat; the markings appear more distinct, and the rounded black spots on the back and sides, smaller and more numerous. There is in this species a considerable diversity in colour, as well as in size. In spring and early summer, before it has shed its winter coat, it is uniformly more rufous, and the black markings are less distinct, than after shedding its hair, and before the new hair is elon- gated in autumn to form the winter coat. Our specimens obtained in summer and autumn, are of a light gray colour, with scarcely any mixture of rufous, and all the black markings are brighter and far more distinct than they are in those killed in the win- ter or spring months. There are, however, at all seasons of the year, even in the same neigh- bourhood, strongly-marked varieties, and it is difficult to find two indivi- duals precisely alike. Some specimens are broadly marked with fulvous under the throat, whilst in others the throat as well as the chin are gray. In some the stripes on the back and spots along the sides are very distinctly seen, whilst in others they are scarcely visible, and the animal is grayish-brown above, with a dark dorsal stripe. A specimen from the mountains of Pennsylvania presents this appearance strikingly, and is withal nearly destitute of the triangular marking under the throat, so that we hesitated for some time in referring it to this species. A specimen from Louisiana is of the same uniform colour above, but with more distinct linear mark- ings on the face, and with coarse hair, not more than half the length of that of individuals from the Northern States. We obtained a specimen in Carolina, which in nearly every particular answers to the description of Felis Carolinensis of Desmarest. If the various supposed new species of Wild Cat, described by Rafinesque, Harlan, Desmarest, &c., are entitled to a place in our Fauna, on account of some peculiarity of colour, we have it in our power from specimens before us, to increase the number to a considerable extent; but in doing so we think we should only swell the list of synonymes, and add to the confusion which already prevails in re- gard to some of the species belonging to this genus. DIMENSIONS. Adult Male.—[Fine Specimen.] From point of nose to root of tail - - 30 inches. Tail (vertebrae) - - - 5 do.