DOMESTICATED NATURE 



285 



doubt that such a variety would have 

 been produced and maintained. In 

 fact I believe Professor Castle of Har- 

 vard has obtained such results. 



Results are more easily obtainable in 

 animals whose period of gestation is 

 short, such as mice, in which the blue- 

 eyed white is not rare. 



Similar study and perseverance must 

 be applied to each and every variety. 

 Whoever really endeavors to produce a 

 specimen that will win a competitive 

 place of the exhibitions of stock must 

 bring his results before a competent 

 judge who will make the necessary 

 comparisons and criticisms. In most 

 cases the judges are glad to make sug- 

 gestions to help the breeder to obtain 

 results nearer the ideal. This ideal is 

 invariably one in which beauty of con- 

 tour and of color is paramount. This 

 gives us, in addition to the biological 

 training, a sort of development in our 

 aesthetic tastes. To approach the ideal 

 of the standards in any fancy animal — 

 horse, dog, cattle, rabbit or mouse — is 

 no child's play. The young person 

 capable of securing results is bound to 

 have learned that thinking things out 

 has much to do wath success and will 

 have gained a store of biological knowl- 

 edge. He will realize, too. how 

 men may use God's laws to enhance 

 the latent beautv of these little creatures. 



Who Can Beat This? 

 They have been discussing, in one 

 of the English natural history journals, 

 the strange idiosyncracies of cats in the 

 things they like to eat. Here are some 

 of the reports. Are American cats 

 equally original? 



"A FTNT'S A POUND 

 THE WORLD AROUND.^ 



One animal habitually refused both 

 meat and milk, and preferred above all 

 else raw potatoes. Once she got up 

 on the table, and, ignoring a lamb cut- 

 let, made off with a cucumber. 



A Persian tom demanded regularly 

 two raw potatoes, and for a change 

 enjoyed asparagus, cucumbers, cab- 

 bage, tomatoes, vegetable marrow, 

 melons, cocoanut and olives. 



A Manx cat would risk a beating to 

 steal baked pears. 



Still a fourth cat devours earth- 

 worms and frogs, and in the spring 

 will stand on the shore of a shallow 

 pond and with its paw fish out masses 

 of frog's eggs for a meal. 



A YOUNG CAVY. 

 Photographed by an apple for comparison of size. 



Even what most attracts us in the 

 farmer's life is not its profitableness. We 

 love to go after the cow not for the sake 

 of her milk or her beef, or the money 

 they yield, but perchance to hear the 

 cinkling of the cow-bell — We would keep 

 hens not for eggs, but to hear the cocks 

 crow and the hens cackle. — Thoreau. 



