THE CARACAL.

Felis Caracal. Linn.

The Caracal, which is unquestionably identical with the Lynx of the Ancients, but whose original name has been, in modern times, usurped by an animal of northern origin, utterly unknown to the Greeks, and distinguished by the Romans by a totally different appellation, is a native of most of the warmer climates of the Old World, infesting probably as large an extent of the surface of the earth as the Lion or the Leopard themselves. Throughout the whole of Africa, from Egypt and Barbary to the extremity of Caffraria, and in the southern half of Asia, at least as far eastwards as the Ganges, he follows, as it were, in the footsteps of those larger and[58] more formidable beasts. So uniformly indeed has he been met with in the train of the Lion, that many early writers, determined to find a reason for every thing, laid it down as a settled fact that the Caracal, equally with the Jackal, although in a different manner, was the Lion’s purveyor; that he accompanied that terrible animal in the pursuit of his prey; pointed it out to him by means of his more delicate nostril and piercing sight; and, when his royal master had finished his meal, received a portion of the flesh in reward for his good and loyal service. But the greater part of this fanciful tale is now known to have had its origin only in the imagination of men who had caught a glimpse of the real truth, and made up for the want of accurate observation by the invention of a theory almost as fabulous as the stories of the ancients, which attributed to the same animal such wonderful powers of sight as to pierce even through stone walls. He follows, it is true, in the traces of the Lion; but, far from associating with him in the pursuit of game, he ventures not, any more than the other beasts of the forest, to trust himself within reach of his paw. His object is solely to satiate his appetite upon the remains of the mangled carcases which the Lion may leave; consequently the latter might with much greater truth and propriety be regarded as the purveyor of the Caracal, who depends perhaps more for his subsistence upon the food thus provided for him, than upon that which he can procure by the exercise of his own powers or sagacity. He frequently, however, indulges his native ferocity in petty ravages on the smaller and more timid quadrupeds, such as hares and rabbits: birds also form a favourite object of his attacks, and in pursuit of them[59] he mounts the tallest trees with surprising swiftness and agility. It is even said that his qualifications for the chase are capable of cultivation; and it has been repeated by travellers, from the days of the celebrated Marco Polo downwards, that the princes of the East occasionally make use of his services in taking small game in nearly the same manner as they employ the subject of the succeeding article for the larger: but from all that we know of his disposition in a state of captivity, this statement appears, to say the least, extremely questionable.

In size the Caracal is somewhat larger than the Fox. The whole of the upper surface of his body is of a deep and uniform brown, the hairs being for the most part slightly tipped with gray; the under and inner parts are nearly white; and the chin and lower lip, and two spots, one on the inner side of and above the eye, and the other beneath its outer angle, completely so. The neck and throat are of a lighter and brighter brown than the rest of the fur. The ears, which are long and upright, taper gradually to a fine tip, which is surmounted by a pencil of long black hairs; they are black externally and whitish within. It is to the striking character afforded by these organs that the animal is indebted for his modern name of Caracal, corrupted from his Turkish appellation, which, equally with that by which he is known in Persia, signifies “black ear.” His whiskers are short, and take their origin from a series of black lines which occupy the sides of the muzzle; at some distance behind them, in front of the neck on each side, is a short and thick tuft of lighter coloured hairs. The tail, which is eight or nine inches[60] in length, is of the same uniform colour with the body from its base to its tip.

The specimen in the Tower, from which our engraving was made and our description taken, is a native of Bengal, a locality from which these animals have been so rarely brought to Europe, that it has been a question among naturalists whether the Caracal of India and that of Africa really belonged to the same species. There is, however, no difference of any importance observable between the present animal and those which have been brought from the latter continent. It is extremely sulky, keeping constantly retired in one of the backward corners of its cage, and swearing, as we express it in the common cat, almost incessantly when conscious of being noticed. The Lynxes indeed appear, at least when in captivity, to exercise this peculiar faculty of voice to a much greater extent than any other species of the group. They are remarkably irascible and mistrustful, and are seldom completely tamed.