WHY AND HOW A CAT PURRS 363 



ly -purrs" when lie dies, making the Why and How a Cat Purrs. 



curious sound which the watcher by a n,t one knows positively how or 



death bed recognizes as the death rat- wnv a cat purrs. The question has 



tie. ' been extendedly discussed and a mul- 



Each of these three sounds is pro- titude of answers suggested, 

 duced in the same way, namely, by the Mr. E. Kay Robinson the editor of 

 breath being gently torced forward the "Country-Side Leaflet," our En- 

 through a liquid him in the air passage, glish twin nature periodical, has been 

 the liquid being thus blown into a amusing himself and the young folks 

 quick succession of bursting bubbles, Jjy a curious attempt at an explanation, 

 which make the "purring" noise — as I do not know why he lives in Eng- 

 motor cycles make a loud purring noise land. His ingenuity would suggest 

 when the explosions of the petrol be- that he is a "Connecticut Yankee." 

 come rapidly successive. When a Perhaps he is tuning up to write a 

 man tries to imitate a cat's "purr," he book of nature stories. Perhaps he is 

 consciously accumulates a little liquid not scientifically serious, but just try- 

 at the back of his throat and breathes ing to be funny and to see funny 

 outward through it. Try to "purr" things. According to his amusing 

 yourself and you will realize that it is theory, a kitten purring on the rug is 

 so. When he "gargles" he simply dreaming she is killing an animal and 

 "purrs" vigorously through the doc- drinking the blood ! ! ! Here is his 

 tor's stuff. When he dies quietly, his "story" (in more than one sense) but 

 failing organs allow the air passage to it is really worth reading: 

 become flooded with liquid, and his last why does a cat "purr"? 

 breath is a series of bursting bubbles. . . 

 So he "purrs" a good-b V e to the world. rhls 1S one of the ordinary chil- 



But it cannot be said that, as a gen- dren ' s questions" which their seniors 



eral rule, man purrs when he is find so difficult to answer; and of 



pleased, like a cat; and probably it is course a com P le te and satisfactory 



true that cats and cat-like animals answer to this question must tell us 



stand alone in expressing pleasure by three things. It must explain (1) why 



a series of bursting bubbles in the the nolse made ^ a cat ( a . nd a iew A 



throat why is this? other animals) is the peculiar sound 



~, J _ 1 . , , which we imitate in describing it as a 



10 answer this question, let me ask << ,, ,„\ 1 ,, , . u • 



., 1 , • 1 1 • purr ; (2) why the cat makes this 



another; what is the most glorious mo- ^ Qr \ ^ at a „ sed that 



ment in the youthful experience of a golit hunting an imals are mostly 



wild cat, a tiger or a leopard, at the gilent exc t when they deliber ately 



time when its most vivid and last- challenge their rivals or cry out through 



ing impressions of life are being • . and (3) wh the cat onl s 



formed? It is the moment when it has when it is p i ea sed. 



for the first time seized for its prey The n rst ques tion, why "cats"— 



some comparatively large creature— mean i ng a ll kinds of cats, up to and 



perhaps as large as or larger than including the leopard and the tiger— 



itself. What happens then? We all m ake the no ise which we call a " purr /' 



know that when a sportsman m India suggests that other animals do not 



wishes to shoot a tiger, he usually make tn i s noise; but there is at least 



depends upon the news brought to him one other animal, man, who may be 



bv the natives of a "kill." This means observed to "purr" on three distinct 



that the tiger has killed some large ani- occasions 



mal, such as a bullock, and left it. Firstly,' a man sometimes "purrs" 

 The sportsman knows that the wne n he is consciously imitating the 

 tiger will return to eat part of the noise made by a cat, for his own, or 

 bullock during the night, and he makes his friends', or even his cat's entertain- 

 his plans accordingly. But why did m ent. The great Cardinal Richelieu did 

 not the tiger eat as much of the bul- this for the last reason, so the chronic- 

 lock as it was likely to require at the lers tell us. Secondly, a man "purrs" 

 time when it was killed? Because, when, acting under doctor's orders, he 

 when it had killed the bullock— us- "gargles" medicine. Thirdly, he usual- 



