COMMON BRITISH ANIMALS 



CHAPTER I 



THE CAT 



I SHALL try in this little book to tell something 

 about the common animals of Great Britain^ and 

 a few of their well-known foreign relations, the 

 knowledge of which may give young naturalists 

 greater pleasure and interest in the familiar animals 

 they may know in their own homes, see in the streets, 

 when on holidays meet with in the meadows, farm- 

 yards, or woods, or see in the Zoological Gardens. 



" Why have you begun with the cat ? '' some 

 may say. " Why not the horse or the dog ? ^^ Well, 

 everyone keeps, or has kept, a pet cat, and pussy is 

 a member of a very large, ancient, and important 

 family, a fact of which she is fully aware, as anyone 

 can see who watches her pride and self-satisfaction 

 in the grace, dignity, and elegance of her move- 

 ments and attitudes, and by her perfect indiiference 

 to your opinion of her. She will condescend to 

 associate with you on friendly terms in return for 

 certain comforts in which her soul delights, namely 



1 



