Tiger cat

“ Apart from their general resemblance to the tame cat, both the chaus and the Scotch cat in their moments of repose exactly resemble the domestic species. They never “pace” their cages—a habit which distinguishes all leopards and tigers, and all the tiger-cats when young. They sleep all day, if possible, either curled up on their backs with their noses upwards, like a tame cat in a sunny window; or with their backs drawn up and their fore-paws tucked neatly under their chests. ”

“ A tiger, we say, will not look a man in the face. He won't, but fear is not his motive. It is superciliousness—a lofty affectation of indifference, and nothing else. Every cat is the same in this respect—lion, tiger, leopard, panther, Tom or tabby. It is only another expression of the cat's native vanity. Loving to be stared at and admired, he makes a great show of the most contemptuous indifference to everybody. Before you reach the cage you may now and again detect, from the corner of your eye, the cat observing you with some interest ”

“ The cat is much the nobler animal. Dogs, with wolves, jackals, and all of their kin, love to fall upon their victim in overwhelming force, like a rascally mob, and bite, tear, and worry until the life has gone out of it; the tiger, rushing single-handed, with a fearful challenge, on the gigantic buffalo, grasps its nose with one paw and its shoulder with the other, and has broken its massive neck in a manner so dexterous and instantaneous that scarcely two sportsmen can agree about how the thing is done. ”

“ At the same instant a tiger-cat leaped out of the tree; while a covey of partridges, which had been nestling in the grass close by, rose with a loud “wurr,” still further alarming the dominie.
“Get your guns! get your guns!” he shouted. “There’s a huge tiger, or a jaguar, or a beast of some sort, close at our heels; he’ll be after seizing some of us, if we are not on our guard.”
As he spoke we saw the tiger-cat, quite as much frightened as Mr Laffan, scampering off in the opposite direction; and a hearty laugh, in which we all indulged, assured our friend that no danger was to be apprehended. ”

“ The seven or eight long, straggling hairs which he suffered to grow on his lip, above the right corner of his mouth waggled and waved, and in his ears the ornaments, carved out of a horn-bill’s crest to represent tiger-cat’s teeth, alternately pointed up and down as he dolefully shook his head over the never-ending rehearsal of his wrongs. ”

“ It is like a great cat. Its puffy cheeks are ornamented with white whiskers, and its big paws are like those of a pussy magnified fifty times. Its motions are very graceful, and whether lying down, its nose on its paw, sleeping, or walking through the paths of its native jungle with soft cat-like tread, it appears formed of muscle and sinew, without a bone in its body, so gracefully does it curve and twist itself as it moves.
The tiger is not considered a courageous beast by hunters, who say that if it is faced boldly, it will turn and slink away among the bushes, if it can. ”

“ The cries of the wild animals which prowl about at night seeking their food were heard, and the cat feared one of them might find her and kill her. A mother tiger perhaps would snatch her, and take her to her hungry cubs, hidden away in the deep forest, or a bird of prey might swoop down on her and grip her in his terrible claws. Again and again she entreated the mouse to be quick, promising that, if only he would set her at liberty, she would never, never, never forget it or do any harm to her beloved friend. ”

“ All live on birds and small mammals, and probably most share the tame cat's liking for fish. Among the grey-and-spotted cats are the Mottled Cat of the Eastern Himalaya and Straits Settlements and islands; the Tibetian Tiger-cat; the Fishing-cat of India and Ceylon, which is large enough to kill lambs, but lives much on fish and large marsh-snails; Geoffroy's Cat, an American species; the Leopard-cat of Java and Japan, which seems to have grey fur in Japan and a fulvous leopard-like skin in India, where it is also called the Tiger-cat ”

“ In a small town in Minnesota, noted for its several state institutions of learning, lives a widow whose success in the training of a cat has made her quite noted in her locality.
Tiger, the cat, is not famous for his long hair nor for his long pedigree. He is simply a creature who has been loved and petted into a wonderful amount of sympathy for his mistress and he seems to know instinctively many of her likes and dislikes, and he would no more harm Dick, the canary, who lives in the same room, than he would attack the hand which places the saucer of milk before him each day. ”

“ When we see our own house-cat playing with a mouse, striking at it, letting it escape, and at last giving it the final grip, we are watching in miniature the cruel game which is played in the dense jungles of Asia by the tiger with the antelopes, young buffaloes, and other terrified animals. Yet when we see the mother cat caressing her little ones, this too is true to tiger life, for though the father does not watch and care for his children as the lion does, the tigress loves them with the utmost devotion, and attacks all who come near them, dying sooner than forsake her cubs. ”

“ Besides the true wild Cat, there are other species of felis which, on account of their resemblance to the tiger, are called “Tiger-Cats”: they are found in all parts of the world, with the exception of Europe. The largest of this family is the Rimau-Dahan, an inhabitant of Sumatra. When full grown, it measures over seven feet from the nose to the tip of its tail, which appendage, however, monopolises three feet six of the whole. It is nearly two feet high at the shoulders: its colour is light grey, striped and spotted with jet black. ”

“ White Cat had also sneaked away, Mr. Tiger Cat said: “Fighting is very wrong.”
“Yes,” replied Silvertip, “very wrong indeed. But,” he added, “I’ll make believe fight anybody.” So he jumped stiffly down and Mr. Tiger Cat jumped stiffly down, and they glared and growled at each other all the afternoon and never bit or even unsheathed a claw. They had a most delightful time, and Miss Tabby came out from under the porch and smiled on them both. She loved Cats who acted bravely.
A YOUNG SWIFT TUMBLES IN one of the chimneys of the big house several families of Chimney Swifts had built their homes. ”

“ There is nothing ferocious in its appearance, but it is naturally savage. It never approaches villages or farms, except at night, and does not attack either men, women, or children; but every thing else suits its purpose. There is nothing good about it but its skin.
The tiger-cat in Africa is merely a degenerate species of the tiger, with which we are acquainted ”

“ In the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas the tiger-cat is rather common, with the eyra-cat, in areas densely overgrown with thorny chaparral. Like most of the cat tribe, it is strictly nocturnal and by day lies well hidden in its brushy shelter. By night it wanders along trails over a considerable territory, seeking its prey. Birds of all kinds, including domestic poultry, are captured on their roosts, and rabbits, wood rats, and mice of many kinds, as well as snakes and other reptiles, are on its list of game. ”

“ The Tiger is another of the feline species, and may be compared to an enormous cat, the whiskers and the tail being exactly similar; and both the Tiger and the lion resemble the cat in the form of their feet, and the power they possess of drawing in their claws. The Tiger, however, bears the strongest resemblance, and when pleased, purrs and curves up his back as he rubs himself against the nearest object. When enraged, he growls rather than roars; and springs up to a great height before he pounces on his prey.
The Tiger has a smaller and rounder head than the lion; he has no mane ”

“ He was fed with flesh, like the panther and leopard. This serval, or maraputé of Malabar and India, seems to be the same animal as the tiger-cat of Senegal and the Cape of Good Hope, which, according to the testimony of travellers, resembles our cat in its shape, and the tiger (that is the panther or leopard) by the black and white spots of his fur. “This animal (say they) is four times larger than a cat; is of a very voracious nature, and feeds on monkeys, rats, and other animals.” ”

“ Using all the craft of his kind , the great cat steals upon his victims with consummate patience, and in such silence that even the deer have no suspicion how swiftly that stealthy death is approaching. It is like being killed by a shadow or a ghost, for not a sound of moving leaf or breaking twig has given them warning; and yet, all on a sudden, right in their midst it may be, there is an instant’s swaying of the grass, and lo! the tiger. ”

“ You've seen, Charley, tigers in the Menagerie. Notice how much this animal resembles a tiger, being shaped and striped like it, but a good deal smaller, and measuring three feet long and eighteen inches high. You can perceive, then, why it is sometimes called tiger-cat, though its most common name is [Pg 70] Ocelet. It is a native of Mexico and Peru, and if caught young, is easily tamed. When it is wild, it feeds mostly on Monkeys, which it takes by its cunning. ”

“ Nothing occurred during the night to disturb our friends, and when daylight finally came they aroused themselves.
As Frank went out on deck he heard a deep, low moan, like the rumbling of falling earth, in the jungle below.
It is by this plaintive sigh that the royal tiger makes his presence known, and in company with other animals of his species he caterwauls like a gigantic Tom cat.
When charging, his spring is accompanied by a series of rapid, frightful cough-like growls, and a single blow of his paw will break the back of an ox which he carries away as a cat carries off a mouse. ”

“ What were those two glaring, cold, yet fiery points just beyond the pit, burning their way through the shadows? My God! It was the tiger. He was lying flat on the ground, couchant, paws extended, quivering, ready for the fatal spring.
In moments like these one's reasoning powers become super-human. I saw that in all probability either Iali or I was to be sacrificed, which one depended merely upon the caprice of the wild beast. I had heard that the calm, steady, fearless stare of a human is more terrifying to wild animals than guns that kill. ”

“ The instinct in this case does not express itself as in the chicken by the rapid lowering of the head and seizing the food, but in quite a different combination of movements, in running after and grasping the fleeing victim. But that is not all that is included in the instinctive action in the case of the cat, for there is also the whole wild and gruesome play, the familiar letting go and catching again, the passionate growling of satisfaction which, in its wildness, reminds us much more of a blood-thirsty tiger than of a tame domestic animal. ”

“ So also the name "Tiger-Cat" has become almost proverbial for innate ferocity, and any animal of this description—whether it be Serval Ocelot or Margay—is popularly assumed to differ in size only from the savage of the Indian jungles. Many of these beautiful animals, however, become, if taken young, as tame and good-tempered as could be desired, although of course allowance must be made for individual differences of disposition, and it must be admitted that very young animals can be as spiteful or more so than their elders. ”

“ A man-eating tiger that would fall into a pit could hardly have been in the enjoyment of the full complement of its senses; and when, having tumbled like a sack of potatoes into the hole, we hear that it did not jump out again, but permitted itself to be tied up and carted away, we must confess that something of the awesome terrors attaching by tradition to the anthropophagous cat fall away from it. An average sheep would have behaved with more spirit. ”

“ Now, for instance, if you hit a man that’s tryin’ to be good to you, you’re goin’ to feel bad about it, ain’t you? Well, a cat, when he’s clawing you up—he knows what he’s doin’. Don’t ever get it in your head that he don’t. Particularly a tiger cat. I always did like tiger cats better’n I liked lion cats, at that. ’Course, lots of trainers will tell you different, but I’ve seen ’em all; I’ve been among the slums and I’ve been among the aristocrats, and what I claim is, the lions ain’t the king of beasts. But, be that as it may, a cat knows what he’s doing. ”

“ Why, every straw touched by a cat simply stank!
Box is easy to deceive, and runs right into the trap set for him by the little field tiger.
He has not the slightest idea how it happened—but this he knows: that the clawed she-devil is sitting on his back again, and is already tearing his skin to shreds.
His howls are so loud, and Grey Puss’ growls so deep and threatening, that they are heard at the burial-mound. The kittens start up from their day-doze and, fully understanding what is taking place, begin to strut about with stiff legs and erect tails, uttering little half-growls at intervals. ”

“ Now, although the cat can be abused like a toy doll by the children without losing his temper, yet he has the most curiously composed disposition of all the domestic animals. Although extravagantly domesticated, and although he shares our beds and tables with impunity, yet he is, to the mouse, as cruel and treacherous as a man-eating tiger. ”