THE CATI 149 



mother at length became alarmed for the safety of 

 her charge, and hid them over a ceiling, where one 

 died. 



Mr. White, in his Natural History of Selborne, oh- 

 serves, that he had a little helpless leveret brought to 

 him, which was nourished by the servants, with milk 

 from a spoon ; and about the same time his cat kitten- 

 ed, and the young were dispatched. The leveret 

 was soon lost, and was supposed to have fallen a prey 

 to some cat or dog; but one evening, about a fortnight 

 afterwards, as Mr. White was sitting in the garden, 

 he observed his cat trotting towards him, and follow- 

 ed by the leveret, which she had nourished with thfc 

 utmost aii'ection. 



When Mr. Baumgarten was at .Damascus, he saw 

 a large house which was solely used as a kind of hos- 

 pital for cats, and was said to be completely filled 

 with those creatures. On enquiring into the origin of 

 this curious institution, he was informed that Maho- 

 met, when he once resided there, kept a cat in the 

 sleeve of his gown, and fed it carefully with his own 

 hands; in consequence of which, his followers in this 

 place paid the most superstitious respect to these ani- 

 mals, and supported them in this manner by public 

 alms, which were very adequate to the purpose. 



THE WILD CAT 



is so intimately allied to the domestic kind, that they 

 evidently constitute the same species. The form h 

 the same in both, and they exhibit the same charac- 

 teristic propensities : the only observable distinction 

 is, that the wild cats are larger and stronger than thp 

 tame kind, and their fur is much longer, but very soft 

 and fine. 



The province of Chorazin, in Persia, is famous for 

 a beautiful species of this animal : its size is about thji 

 same as that of our common cat ; its colour is of a 

 fine grey, and its fur cannot be exceeded in softness 

 and lustre : its tail is long, and covered with hair of 

 the length of five or six inches: it frequently turns it 

 upon its back like a squirrel, and it 

 jiJume of feathers* 



H 3 



