CHAPTER I. 

 CATS OF FOREST AND PRAIRIE. 



1. As our old friend the cat lies stretched before the 

 fire or moves about the house, we can give attention to 

 her peculiar eye that adapts itself to darkness as well as 

 light; to her cushioned paws that enable her to tread 

 softly and noiselessly as if on velvet ; to her five toes on 

 her fore-paws, and four toes on her hind-paws ; to the 

 sharp claws with which these toes are armed, which are 

 thrust out of sheaths when needed for use, and withdrawn 

 and covered when at rest. We can also notice the in- 

 cisor or cutting teeth of the cat, of which she has six 

 above and six below ; and the four canine or dog teeth, so 

 much longer than the rest, which she possesses in com- 

 mon with nearly all other carnivorous or flesh-eating ani- 

 mals. 



2. All these curious things about a cat should be care- 

 fully borne in mind, because they are possessed by the 

 numerous species of the cat kind, and bring into close 

 cousinship the mouser that purrs on the warm hearth and 

 the lion that wakes the echoes in the African forest ; and 

 this same relationship of the home cat lends a new inter- 

 est to all her habits. To see her walk softly, stealthily 

 crouching half-way to the ground, and gracefully curling 

 back and forth her long tail as she draws near to and 

 finally springs upon her prey, is to see just what the 

 jaguar, leopard, tiger, or other greater cats do 



