THE DOMESTIC CAT. 155 



Dogs*. These attachments may be accounted for 

 from the ease which the Cats experience by the 

 little animals 5 drawing off the milk from their teats, 

 distended after the loss of their kittens. But the 

 following is a very unaccountable instance of at- 

 tachment, authenticated by the Rev. Daniel Lysons. 

 At the house of the late Robert James, Esq. of 

 Putney, a Cat and a pigeon were remarkably fond 

 of each other. Their affection was reciprocal; 

 and the attachment on both sides was steady. 

 What renders the circumstance more extraordinary 

 is, that they were first remarked together on the 

 wall of the garden. The pigeon was afterwards 

 domesticated ; and they continued from that time 

 inseparable companions f. 



The skins of Cats form, in some countries, a 

 considerable branch of commerce. The greatest 

 quantities come from the northern parts of Europe 

 and Asia. The Russians not only sell them to their 

 neighbours, but send great numbers of them to 

 China. The fur, when rubbed with the hand, 

 particularly in frosty weather, will yield electric 

 sparks ; and if a Cat, clean and perfectly dry, be 

 placed, during frost, on a stool with glass feet, and 



* For the Hares, Squirrels, and Rat, see Animal Biography, 3d 

 dit. i. p. 308, 309 ; and for the Dogs, see Buffbn par Sonnini, addi- 

 tion to the article Cat, xxiv. p. 36. 



A 

 f Lysons's History of thte Environs of London, p. 11. 



rubbed 



