FELIS ORINATA
T H E D E SER T -C A T .
FELIS ORNATA, Gray, Illustr. Ind. Zool. (18 3 2 ) t.—Id. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1 8 3 7 ) p. 5 7 7—Jard. Nat. Libr. vol. xvi. pi. 25.—J. E. Gray,
Proc. Zool. Soc. (1 8 6 7 ) p. 401.
FELIS SERVALINA, Jard. Nat. Libr. vol. xvi. p. 232.
CHAUS PULCHELLUS, Gray, Cat. Mamm. Brit. Mus. (1 8 4 2 ) p. 45.
CHAUS SERVALINUS, id. ibid.
FELIS (CATOLYNX) TORQUATA, Severtz. Rev. et Mag. Zool. (18 5 8 ) p. 387.
FELIS HUTTONI, Blyth, MS.
FELIS TORQUATA, Horsf. Cat. Mamm Mus. E.-Ind. Co. (18 5 1 ) p. 49. sp. 81.—Blyth, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1863) p. 185. sp. 16.—Jerd. Mamm.
Ind. (1 8 6 7 ) p. 110.—M'Masters, Notes, Jerd. Mamm. Ind. (18 7 0 ) p. 35.
CHAUS ORNATUS, J. E. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1867) p. 275.—Fitzin. Sitzgsber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, (1868) lix. p. 175.—Gray, Cat. Cam.
Mamm. (18 6 9 ) p. 35. sp. 2.
H a b . Dukhun, and other parts of India (H o h s e ie l d ) . Desert regions of North-west India, Dukhun, Hazara country
{B b v th ).
T h i s is a very peculiar and well-defined species of this family, and was first described by Dr. J. E. Gray (1. c.). It is essentially
a desert-animal, and lives among the sandhills or barren plains. According to Jerdon the fur is rather dense, and the
markings much brighter and more distinct in some specimens than in others. Examples sent by Capt. Hutton from the
Salt range of the Puniaub and Hazara vary somewhat, and the markings take the shape of ill-defined stripes on the sides and
legs. Dr. Scott, who sent examples from the district of Harriana, near Hansi, states that it is very common, frequenting
open sandy plains, where the Field-rat must be its chief food. He further says that he has seen them of half a dozen
shades of colour, and the spots with a tendency to run into stripes, especially on the limbs. Jerdon says that he has procured
it at Hissar, where it is common, at Mhow, not scarce, at Saugor, and rarely near Nagpore; but it does not seem to extend
into the Gangetic valley, and to the south of the Nerbudda it is rare. At Hissar it frequents the low sandhills and bare
fields, and appears to feed chiefly on the Gerboa Eat (GerUllm indicm). This Cat is abroad during the entire day in open
ground, and is not apparently very nocturnal in its habits. The animal called F. torquata by Sykes is, without much
doubt, a hybrid, as he states it inhabits the grass roofs of houses, and thick hedges, and is constantly on the alert at night
—habits very different from those of the pure wild species.
In his ‘Catalogue of the Mammals in the East-India Company’s Museum’ Mr. Horsfield. has placed this Cat under the
name of F. torquata, Cuvier, given to a domestic or hybrid individual, and includes as synonyms entirely different species,
such as F. hcngalensis. . Supposing that Mr. Horsfield had the true Desert-Cat, and not a hybrid, in his collection (I have
not seen the specimen), I have placed his name also as a synonym of F. ornata. Blyth, in a footnote to his communication
on the species of the genus Felis, published in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1863, states that
Dr. Scott assured him of the occurrence at Hansi of hybrids with F. ornata, and that many of the domestic Cats of that
part of India were undistinguishable from the wild F. ornata, just as some of those of the Scottish highlands are from the
European wild Cat.
Gray’s description of this species is as follows:—
"Pur short, pale whitish brown, black-spotted. Spots small; on the middle of the back smaller, linear; on the front
part of the sides larger, oblong; on the hinder part of the sides small, round; on the thighs and upper part of the legs
confluent, formifig interrupted cross bands. Tail reaching rather below the heel, pale at the lower half, with some
interrupted black rings at the end, which is whiter than the rest of the tail, the tip black. Crown with lines of small