104 "^he Book of Cats. 



thus marked are said to be rare, though they are 

 quite common in Egypt and the south of Europe. 

 This variety has other quahties to recommend it, 

 besides the beauty of its colours. Tortoise-shell 

 Cats are very elegant, though delicate in their 

 form, and are, at the same time, very active, and 

 among the most attached and grateful of the whole 

 race. 



Bluish grey is not a common colour ; this species 

 are styled " Chartreux Cats," and are esteemed 

 rarities. 



The Manx Cat is perhaps the most singular ; 

 its limbs are gaunt, its fur close set, its eyes staring 

 and restless, and it has no tail ; that is to say, there 

 is only a sort of knob as though its tail had been 

 amputated. '' A black Manx Cat," says a modern 

 writer, "with its staring eyes and its stump of a 

 tail, is a most measly looking beast, which would 

 find a more appropriate resting place at Kirk 

 AUoway or the Black Bay, than at the fireside of a 

 respectable household. So it might fitly be the 

 quadrupedal form in which the ancient sorcerers 

 were wont to clothe themselves on their nocturnal 

 excursions." 



I read in an article by Mr, Lord that there is a 

 variety of tailless Cats found in various parts of the 



