CALIFORNIA WILDCAT. Lynx eremicus californicus Mearns

Field characters.—Appearance unique among our wild mammals; size much larger than that of domestic cat; legs longer, but tail much shorter. Head and body 19-1/2 to 29 inches (493-735 mm.), tail 4-1/4 to 6-1/4 inches (107-160 mm.), ear excluding tuft 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches (66-89 mm.), weight 7-3/4 to 19 pounds (3.5-8.6 kg.) [some extra limital specimens included in measurements]. The smaller extreme applies to females, the larger to males. General coloration above, light reddish brown in summer, gray in winter; under surface of body and inner sides of legs white, spotted or barred with black; ears black-tufted, black at end and base, white on middle. Tracks: Round, about 2 inches in diameter; sole pad doubly notched behind, not triangular as in coyote.

Occurrence.—Common resident on west slope of Sierra Nevada, chiefly in Upper Sonoran and Transition zones. Recorded from Snelling eastward to Yosemite Valley; altitudinally, ranges to 6500 feet (at head of Nevada Falls). Inhabits brushland, rock slides and timber. Active somewhat by day, as well as at night. Usually solitary.

The California Wildcat is a common inhabitant of the hill and mountain country immediately to the west of the Yosemite Valley and is also present in some numbers on the floor of the Valley itself. It is by no means as reclusive an animal as is the Mountain Lion, and is abroad to a considerable extent during the daytime, so that visitors to the region are likely to catch sight of it. The name "bob-cat" is often applied to this species because of its short or bobbed tail, this member being only about one-fourth the length of the head and body. Trappers often refer to large individuals as "lynx-cats," believing that they constitute a species distinct from the ordinary bob-cat or wildcat, as "granite bucks", are sometimes compared with ordinary deer; but there is only one species of wildcat known in the region.

The 'pencil' or tuft of black hairs on the ear, often supposed to be diagnostic of a true (Canada) lynx, is just as regularly present in our wildcat. The coloration of the latter, both as to tone of color and boldness of the black markings, is variable, and, although it has only one molt (this in late summer and fall), its pelage shows considerable seasonal change. In fall and winter the coat is distinctly gray in cast, but with the wearing off of the ends of the over-hairs at the advent of summer, the underlying color, a light reddish brown, comes into view.

In Yosemite Valley, and on the trails leading out of the Valley, the tracks of wildcats can often be seen after the snow comes. In December, 1914, we saw numerous tracks on the Yosemite Falls trail, some of which were well above Columbia Point while others led down close to the buildings in the old Presidio. Likewise on the Nevada Falls trail that same season, bob-cat tracks were common in the snow, even to the top of the zig-zags. This fact suggested that the cats were using the man-made trail as a pass between Yosemite and Little Yosemite valleys. During the summer the wildcats are doubtless just as active as in the winter, but they then do more of their hunting in the brush and among the rocks where few or no tracks show.

The track of the wildcat is of a rounded shape and on soft earth measures about two inches in diameter. In snow it is somewhat larger, as the toes then tend to spread apart, a characteristic which makes it possible for the cats to hunt over rather soft snow. The hind foot is put exactly in the tread of the forefoot of the same side; therefore the footfall is more silent. On one occasion successive footprints in the snow were about ten inches apart. In some cases each of the cats which followed along the Yosemite trails had walked in the footsteps of his predecessors. In other cases the different individuals, or the same individual at different times, had taken separate courses, for as many as seven parallel lines of tracks were noted in one place. On the Yosemite Falls Trail the wildcats had done much wandering; their tracks left the trail and went out into the boulder talus, then came back, only to leave again after a few steps; the cats were obviously foraging for the small mammals which dwell in the rock heaps.

Where not molested, the wildcat probably hunts nearly as much by day as by night. On at least three occasions members of our party came upon wildcats in the daytime. On December 9, 1914, a cat was sighted on the lower part of the Yosemite Falls Trail. A second was noted December 20, 1914, about 5 P.M., below the mouth of Indian Cañon. The third individual was seen one day in October, 1915, at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, on a roadway below El Portal.

The wildcat is a skillful hunter and levies upon a wide variety of the medium-sized birds and mammals. Because of its diurnal activity, the cat naturally includes in its menu a number of diurnal birds such as Valley Quail, which forage on the ground but roost high, out of reach, at night. We found no direct evidence of the cat eating quail in the Yosemite section. On a number of occasions, however, we saw scattered feathers which indicated that a quail had been killed and eaten by some carnivore, whether by a Gray Fox or by a wildcat we could not determine. The numbers of quail captured by cats are probably overestimated by sportsmen. At Smith Creek, east of Coulterville, the wildcats during the winter months subsist to a considerable extent upon Western Robins. Mr. Donald D. McLean has reported (1919, p. 160) the finding of the remains of no less than six robins in the stomach of one wildcat killed March 10, 1919.

As for mammals, the stomach of a wildcat taken in Yosemite Valley about March 18, 1920, contained a considerable amount of Gray Squirrel hair. The cats seen hunting on the boulder talus near Yosemite Falls Trail were presumably after Boyle White-footed Mice and Streator Wood Rats, the two rodents which are common there.

Definite information concerning the food of the wildcat is slow in accumulating. The most dependable information is that gained by examining the stomach contents of animals caught by trappers. But in many instances the stomach of a trapped animal is empty or contains nothing but the material used as bait; had the cat been able to get its regular food it would not have been drawn to the trap. Of three wildcats trapped in Yosemite Valley in March, 1920, the stomach of one was empty, that of the second held only bait, and the third contained the hair of a gray squirrel.

The California Wildcat is an adept climber and when tracked with dogs will often take to trees, golden oaks or incense cedars being preferred, probably because the dense foliage of these two affords a greater measure of concealment. Whether the wildcat makes use of its climbing ability to go after birds or mammals which nest or live in trees we do not know.

The only local information which we have relative to the breeding of this animal is a statement by Ranger F. S. Townsley to the effect that near Big Meadows about April 20, 1916, he killed a female wildcat which contained 4 embryos. Data at hand from other parts of California indicate that this is an average number.