CATS AND THEIR FRIENDSHIPS. 



97 



but the cat still suffers under the bad character that Buffon — 

 who can not have been acquainted with any reputable specimens 

 of the race — gave her. She is said to be selfish, spiteful, cruel, 

 crafty, treacherous, loving places and not persons, and in every 

 way unworthy of fellowship in the household. J. G. Wood an- 

 swers these accusations by saying that the cats with which he 

 has been most familiar " have been as docile, tractable, and good- 

 tempered as any dog 

 could be, and dis- 

 played an amount 

 of intellectual pow- 

 er which would be 

 equaled by very few 

 dogs, and surpassed 

 by none." To all per- 

 sons who have given 

 their confidence to 

 Puss and received 

 hers in return, they 

 need no answer. 



Numerous traits of 

 the sort that make 

 all the world kin ap- 

 pear in the cats — 

 human-like qualities 

 and affections that 

 bring them into sym- 

 pathy with their mas- 

 ters. Such traits will 



be made manifest to any one who even partially takes Puss into fel- 

 lowship ; and whoever puts himself on good terms with her will 

 find his association marked by wonderful examples of intelligence 

 and affection, and will be ready to declare that there is no cat 

 like the particular one with which he is dealing. The declaration 

 will be true in a measure, for individuality is one of the most 

 conspicuous traits of the species. A considerable literature has 

 been written in demonstration and illustration of the more pleas- 

 ing aspects of feline character, on which I have drawn for inci- 

 dents from works that will be mentioned in course; and more 

 freely from articles on animal intelligence in Nature and the Re- 

 vue Scientifique, and from a Cat Competition, organized several 

 years ago by the Republican Journal, of Belfast, Maine, in which 

 many contributors gave the stories of their pets. Evidences are 

 afforded in these observations of the habitual exercise by cats, in 

 the ordinary course of their lives, of such qualities as recognition 

 of their friends and attachment to them, capacity to form friend- 



Fig. 7, 



-Mrs. Valance's Persian, " Fluffy II." 

 Cat Show, 1886. 



Crystal Palace 



