CATS OF HIGH DEGREE 2O5 



no fence will confine him an instant. With 

 all his attractions, this famous Eastern beauty 

 is not so intelligent and mentally alert as some 

 of his short-haired brothers of the West, but 

 the life of luxury to which he is destined de- 

 mands not so much mental as physical gifts ; 

 in his case, certainly, "beauty is its own ex- 

 cuse for being." 



The Russian cat, which is seldom seen in 

 our country, is somewhat larger than the An- 

 gora, with a coat coarser and more woolly, 

 and a tail neither so long nor so gracefully 

 graduated in length of hairs. In color, this 

 burly subject of the czar may be black, or a 

 brown tabby ; at least these are the two, and 

 the only two, variations in which he has ap- 

 peared at the West. Naturally but little is 

 known of his character and disposition ; but 

 in the case of one who lived in England it is 

 reported that he displayed some tastes more 

 resembling the canine than the ordinary feline 

 preferences. He insisted upon living with the 

 dogs on the place, and accompanying them 

 both in their exercise and their hunts, and he 

 obeyed the orders and signals of the keepers 

 exactly as well as the dogs. 



