[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
The common wild cat of South Africa. It will interbreed with domestic cats.]
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._
The chaus is the Indian and African equivalent of our wild cat. It is equally strong and savage.]
The chaus, as will be seen from the above, wanders boldly down into the outskirts of large towns, cantonments, and bungalows, on the look-out for chickens and pigeons. Its favourite plan is to lie up at dawn in some piece of thick cover near to where the poultry wander out to scratch, feed, and bask. It then pounces on the nearest unhappy hen and rushes off with it into cover. An acquaintance of the writer once had a number of fine Indian game fowl, of which he was not a little proud. He noticed that one was missing every morning for three days, and, not being able to discover the robber, shut them up in a hen-house. Next morning he heard a great commotion outside, and one of his bearers came running in to say that a leopard was in the hen-house. As this was only built of bamboo or some such light material, it did not seem probable that a leopard would stay there. Getting his rifle, he went out into the compound, and cautiously approached the hen-house, in which the fowls were still making loud protests and cries of alarm. The door was shut; but some creature--certainly not a leopard--might have squeezed in through the small entrance used by the hens. He opened the door, and saw at the back of the hen-house a chaus sitting, with all its fur on end, looking almost as large as a small leopard. On the floor was one dead fowl. The impudent jungle-cat rushed for the door, but had the coolness to seize the hen as it passed, and with this in its mouth rushed past the owner of the hens, his servants and retainers, and reached a piece of thick scrub near with its prize.
As the chaus is common both in India and Africa, a comparison of its habits in both continents is somewhat interesting. Jerdon, the Indian naturalist, writes: "It is the common wild cat from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, and from the level of the sea to 7,000 or 8,000 feet elevation. It frequents alike the jungles and the open country, and is very partial to long reeds, and grass, sugarcane-fields, and corn-fields. It does much damage to all game, especially to hares and partridges. Quite recently I shot a pea-fowl at the edge of a sugarcane-field. One of these cats sprang out, seized the pea-fowl, and after a short struggle--for the bird was not quite dead--carried it off before my astonished eyes, and, in spite of my running up, made his escape with his booty. It must have been stalking these very birds, so closely did its spring follow my shot. It is said to breed twice a year, and to have three or four young at a birth. I have very often had the young brought to me, but always failed in rearing them; and they always showed a savage and untamable disposition. I have seen numbers of cats about villages in various parts of the country that must have been hybrids between this cat and the tame ones."