THE CAT TO-DAY 291 



With quiet courtesy, he remains in his proper and 

 comfortable place, only venturing into view when 

 something he approves of, such as fish or game, 

 makes its appearance. On the rights of property 

 he is firm. If a strange cat enters his domain, he 

 is up in claws to resist invasion. It was for these 

 qualities, probably, that the cat was worshipped by 

 the ancient Egyptians." 



The last characteristic — an invincible determina- 

 tion to resist territorial encroachment — has made 

 the cat the light-weight champion of the world. It 

 was for this that Mr. Richard Garnett prized the 

 heroic Marigold, who in many a bitter fray had held 

 her wall, as Horatius held his bridge, defiant, daunt- 

 less, indomitable. 



" She moved through the garden in glory, because 

 She had very long claws at the end of her paws. 

 Her back was arched, her tail was high, 

 A green fire glared in her vivid eye ; 

 And all the Toms, though never so bold, 

 Quailed at the martial Marigold." 



Perpetual vigilance keeps the cat in such excel- 

 lent fighting order. Like a good athlete, she never 

 relaxes the exercise which preserves her marvel- 

 lous elasticity. Mr. Harrison Weir insists that her 

 reprehensible habit of clawing wood — a young tree 

 or a table leg being used indiscriminately — is not, 

 as Mr. Darwin and other naturalists have supposed, 



