THE OAT 17 



Rolled up on the hearth-rug with her nose care- 

 fully covered by her paws you may see pussy's ear 

 moving. She seems to hear the smallest movement 

 of a mouse even in her sleep. The ears are large 

 and can be turned from side to side, so as to face 

 the direction of -the sound, and they are also lined 

 with hairs, which help to catch the sound-waves. 

 Her eyes are large and round, and the pupil or open- 

 ing in the eye, which all mammals have the ' power 

 of making larger or smaller, without knowing it, 

 according to the amount of light which falls upon the 

 eye, in a bright light becomes very small. Pussy's is 

 a mere slit extending across the eye from above down- 

 wards. In the dark the opening becomes round and 

 seems to be as large as the coloured part of the eye. 



The sense of smell is not nearly so keen as in the 

 dog, but the cat has a very fine sense of touch in the 

 long hairs or whiskers on the upper lip. Some 

 cowardly people, who find amusement in thoughtless 

 cruelty, I have known to cut these whiskers, or even 

 to cut off a kitten's tail. The amusement derived 

 from such acts must be of a most transitory nature, 

 but the distress brought upon the poor cat is most 

 painful and lasting. 



The colour of the fur of cats varies considerably, 

 but the ground colour of the wild cat's coat was 

 some shade of grey, sometimes a blue-grey, some- 

 times more sandy with dark brown or black markings. 

 These markings are streaks running along the body, 

 but not the whole length except one from the head 

 along the middle of the back ; there are also trans- 

 verse stripes and spots and cloudings. It is good 



