Volume 4, Plate XXX / Mammalia (Mammals)

Caracal

Felis caracal

The Caracal, opening the lynxes, is a native of southern India and Africa, about two feet ten long with a tail near ten inches, its fur a pale reddish-brown tinged with a vinous shade and paling beneath, the white-spotted brow and tufted black-backed ears giving the name black ear. It feeds on small animals and birds, pursuing the latter actively in trees, is said to hunt in packs and eat the larger beasts’ leavings, and remains irritable in confinement.