THE COMMON PUSSY 213 



pretence that we delighted in that he was a 

 real tiger out of the jungle, such as we saw in 

 pictures, yet who was just a plain gray tabby, 

 the most common and the meekest of cats? 

 Of this family there are several species. 



The brown tabby has black stripes, with no 

 white on the body. The eyes should be yel- 

 low, and the form slim and graceful, with 

 round feet. This personage has the credit 

 of being the most intelligent of his race, the 

 most easily trained to tricks of all sorts in a 

 word, the regular "show" animal. He it is 

 who appears in the troupes of " educated," or 

 "performing," or "learned" cats. Notwith- 

 standing his reputation as a public character, 

 adulation has not spoiled him for domestic 

 life. He is remarkable, even among his kind, 

 for honesty and faithfulness ; and his love of 

 children, and endurance of their often trouble- 

 some attentions, cannot be surpassed. He is 

 really the ideal family cat. 



The red tabby gets his name from the color 

 of his stripes, which are red upon a yellowish- 

 brown ground. The word red, however, must 

 be understood in the dealer's sense ; it is the 

 red of some dogs, not the red of a flower or a 



