The Book of Cats. 63 



There Is a breed of tail-less white Cats in the 

 Isle of Man, and also in Devonshire. These are 

 not the sort of animals with which, on shipboard, 

 the *' stow-aways " are made acquainted. 



A great many Cats in the Isle of Man are said 

 to be deaf. Thus, " As deaf as a Manx Cat." 

 There is an idea that white Cats with blue eyes 

 are always deaf, but a correspondent of Notes and 

 Queries says, " I am myself possessed of a white 

 Cat which, at the advanced age of upwards of 

 seventeen years, still retains its hearing to great 

 perfection, and is remarkably intelligent and de- 

 voted, more so than Cats are usually given credit 

 for. Its affection for persons is, indeed, more like 

 that of a dog than of a Cat, It is a half-bred 

 Persian Cat, and its eyes are perfectly blue, with 

 round pupils, not elongated, as those of Cats usually 

 are. It occasionally suffers from irritation in the 

 ears, but this has not at all resulted in deafness." 



Do you know why Cats always wash themselves ^ 

 after a meal .^ A Cat caught a sparrow, and was 

 about to devour it, but the sparrow said, 



" No gentleman eats till he has first washed his 

 face." 



The Cat, struck with this remark, set the sparrow 

 down, and began to wash his face with his paw, but 



