A Highland Wild Cat

"THE Felidae, or Cats proper, comprise the most numerous group of the family of Carnivora, and are to be found well-nigh all over the world excepting the Arctic regions and Australasia; but in Europe we have, with a solitary exception, only one indigenous species, the Wild Cat, formerly designated Felis catus, but according to the latest authorities better described scientifically as F. sylvestris; the Scottish having been recently further distinguished from the Continental form as F. sylvestris grampia. Only in Sardinia is an exception to be found, where a local representative of the Egyptian cat occurs, described as F. ocreata sarda. Singularly enough, the wild cat has never been found in Ireland."