8 



and allowed to shift for itself, it must appease by its own efforts 

 the hunger due to wandering, fighting and exposure. Many 

 people express the belief that it is "a poor cat that cannot pick 

 up its own living." Some never feed their cats, and we need not 

 wonder that puss, neglected and spurned, becomes by necessity 

 a scourge to wild life. 



The cat is the only domestic animal which is not usually re- 

 garded as property under the law, and which is neither fully 

 restrained nor protected by it, also the only one that commonly is 

 allowed by its owner to run wild and get its own living. This, 

 however, is the lesser evil. The greater lies in the fact that hun- 

 dreds of thousands of cats, deserting their owners or deserted by 

 them, have reverted to the wild state, bred in the woods, and the 

 numbers of their progeny have increased until they have become 

 such a menace to small game, insectivorous birds and poultry 

 that some method of repressing them must be found. The situa- 

 tion has become so serious that the legislators of many States 

 have been asked to consider measures for the repression of these 

 nocturnal marauders. 



In recent years, some evidence has been adduced in support of 

 the claim that the cat disseminates disease, particularly among 

 children. 



The object of this bulletin is to discuss the origin, history, 

 character, habits and economic position of the cat, and to con- 

 sider how its beneficial habits may be fully utilized and its in- 

 jurious habits minimized. 



ORIGIN. 



Mivart says that it seems probable that the Mammalia, which 

 of course includes the cat, descended from some highly developed 

 "somewhat reptile-like batrachian of which no trace has been 

 found." 



The origin of the domestic cat is not definitely known, but the 

 beginning of its association with man and his home falls within 

 historic times. All histories of ancient nations go back to a time 

 when they had no cats. Xo trace of the house cat has been 

 found among the early nomadic tribes. The Swiss lake dwellers 

 of the Stone Age had no pet cats, although they hunted and ate 

 a wild species. The Indo-Aryans of the Vedic Age had none. 

 Ancient Greece and Rome were without them. The earlier rec- 

 ords of civilization make no mention of the cat, nor is it repre- 

 sented as a domesticated animal on any of the most ancient 

 monuments or works of art that have been discovered. The 

 Bible omits it, but it is spoken of once in the Apocrypha. Some 



