If its numbers can be at all estimated from the remains which have been discovered in caverns and river deposits, it is clear that this feline animal was not common; the likelihood may have been that it had no chance with its more formidable rivals just mentioned, who monopolised more or less their common prey.
The Lynx, which is still resident in many parts of the Continent, was also a native of pre-historic England, but hitherto its remains have only been discovered in a single locality.
The Wild Cat, although now very local in its distribution, still lingers on the scene where its progenitors lived with the Lion, Bear, Wolf, and other carnivorous animals. On comparing the skeleton of the ancient British Wild Cat with that of a recent individual, no difference is observable, for the reason probably that birds and rabbits, its natural prey, have abundantly supplied its necessities; it has, however, been gradually destroyed, or driven back to a few remaining strongholds, by civilized man.
The Hyæna, which frequented Great Britain in pre-historic times, and contemporaneously with the extinct bears, was of larger dimensions than any species now living, although it is now generally regarded as the progenitor of the Spotted Hyæna.
The Spotted Hyæna, as we may call it, was at one time very common in England, but does not seem to have existed either in Ireland or the Highlands of Scotland. A graphic description of one of its numerous dens is given by Dr. Buckland,[1] who, in referring to the contents of Kirkdale Cave, Yorkshire, likens the floor to a dog-kennel, where gnawed fragments of the bones of Elephants, Rhinoceroses, Bears, Lions, and herbivorous quadrupeds were strewn about among the remains of no less than three hundred Hyænas, the droppings (coprolites) of which were also met with in profusion. This ancient den must have been used by them for a very long period, and, considering that the remains of no less than twenty different species of animals were discovered there, it may be surmised that, at all events, there was a great variety of quadrupeds in the woods and wolds of Yorkshire in those days. Although the Hyæna does not refuse flesh in a fresh state, it prefers a putrid carcase; and its powerful jaws and strong
- ↑ Bridgewater Treatise.
