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THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



SHORT-HAIRED BLUE 



This champion cat belongs to I.ady Alexander, by whose 

 kind permission it is here reproduced 



black and brown to lighter shades of orange brown 

 and white. The pure tortoiseshell might be called a 

 black and tan, with no white, streaked like a tortoise- 

 shell comb if possible, and with wonderful amber eyes. 

 It is characteristic of their intelligence that they will 

 invariably find their way home, and will even bring 

 that mysterious instinct to bear which guides them 

 back long distances to the place of their birth ; and, 

 with regard to this cat, the stories of almost impossible 

 journeys made are not one bit exaggerated. The tom- 

 cats of this breed are very rare in England ; I myself 

 have only known of the existence of six in fifteen years, 

 and of these but three are recorded in the catalogues of 

 the cat shows. 



The Black Cat has many of the characteristics 

 of the tortoiseshell, but is essentially a town cat, and 

 is wont to dream his life away in shady corners, in 



underground cellars, in theatres, and in all places where he can, in fact, retire to monastic quiet. 

 The black cat of St. Clement Danes Church was one of the remarkable cats of London. It 

 was his wont to climb on to the top of the organ-pipes and enjoy an occasional musical concert 

 alone. A christening or a wedding was his pride ; and many people can vouch for a lucky 

 wedding who had the good-fortune to be patronised by the black cat of St. Clement Danes, 

 which walked solemnly down the aisle of the church in front of the happy couples. 



My old pet Peter was a black-and-white cat, and, like most of his kind, was one of the most 

 remarkable cats for intelligence I have ever known. A recital of his accomplishments would, 

 however, have very few believers — a fact I find existing in regard to all really intelligent cats. 

 There are so many cats of an opposite character, and people will rarely take more than a 

 momentary trouble to win the finer nature of an animal into existence. Suffice it to say, that 

 Peter would lie and die, sit up with spectacles on his nose and with a post-card between his paws 

 — a trick I have taught many people's cats to do. He would also mew silent meows when bid, 

 and wait at the door for my home-coming. For a long time, too, it was customary to hear 

 weird footfalls at night outside the bedroom doors, and visitors to the house were a little more 

 superstitious as to their cause than we were ourselves. We set a watch upon the supposed 

 ghost, but sudden opening of the doors discovered only the mystic form of Peter sitting purring 

 on the stairs. He was, however, ultimately caught in the act of lifting the corner of the door- 

 rug and letting it fall back in its place, and he had grown quite expert in his method of raising 



and dropping it at regular intervals until he 



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SILVER TABBY 



A beautiful variety of a typical cat 



[ Bailr Strut 



heard that his signals had produced the required 

 effect, and the door was opened to admit him. 



White Cms I might call musical cats, for 

 it is quite characteristic of the albinoes that 

 noises rarely startle them out of their simpering, 

 loving moods. The scraping of a violin, which 

 will scare an ordinary cat out of its senses, or 

 the thumping of a piano, which would terrorise 

 even strong-nerved cats, would only incite a 

 white cat to a happier mood. Certainly all white 

 cats are somewhat deaf, or lack acute quality of 

 senses ; but this failing rather softens the feline 

 nature than becomes dominant as a weakness. 



