68 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo fy T. Fall] [Baler Stntt 



WHITE SHORT-HAIRED 



Most -white cats are not albinoes that is to say, they ha-ve ordinarily 

 coloured and not red eyes 



THE DOMESTIC CAT 

 BY Louis WAIN 



OF the domestication of the cat we know 

 very little, but it is recorded that a tribe of cats 

 was trained to retrieve i.e., to fetch and carry 

 game. In our own time I have seen many cats 

 fetch and carry corks and newspapers, and on 

 one occasion pounce upon a small roach at the 

 end of a line and place it at its owner's feet. 

 Gamekeepers whom I have known agree that, 

 for cunning, craftiness, and tenacity in attain- 

 ing an object, the semi-wild cat of the woods 

 shows far superior intelligence to the rest of the 

 woodland denizens. It is quite a usual thing to 

 hear of farm cats entering upon a snake-hunt- 

 ing expedition with the greatest glee, and 

 showing remarkable readiness in pitching upon their quarry and pinning it down until secured. 

 These farm cats are quite a race by themselves. Of decided sporting proclivities, they roam the 

 countryside with considerable fierceness, and yet revert to the domesticity of the farmhouse fire- 

 side as though innocent of roving instincts. They are spasmodic to a degree in their mode of life, 

 and apparently work out one mood before entering upon another. It will be remembered that 

 this spasmodic tendency the true feline independence, by the bye is and has been characteristic 

 of the cat throughout its history, and any one who has tried to overcome it has met with failure. 

 Watch your own cat, and you will see that he will change his sleeping-quarters periodically ; 

 and if he can find a newspaper conveniently placed, he will prefer it to lie upon, before anything 

 perhaps, except a cane-bottomed chair, to which all cats are very partial. If you keep a number 

 of cats, as I do, you will find that they are very imitative, and what one gets in the habit of doing 

 they will all do in time : for instance, one of my cats took to sitting with his front paws inside my 

 tall hat and his body outside, and this has become a catty fashion in the family, whether the object 

 be a hat, cap, bonnet, small basket, box, or tin. If by chance one of the cats is attacked by a 

 dog, a peculiar cry from the aggrieved animal will immediately awaken the others out of their 

 lethargy or sleep, and bring them fiercely to the rescue. They 

 are, too, particularly kind and nice to the old cat, and are 

 tolerant only of strange baby kittens and very old cats in the 

 garden as long as they do not interfere with the 

 "catty" subject. The same quality obtains in Spain 

 or Portugal, where a race of scavenging cats 

 exists, which go about in droves or families, 

 and are equal to climbing straight walls, 

 big trees, chimneys, and moun- 

 tainsides. Long, lanky, and 

 thin, they are built more on the 

 lines of a greyhound than the 

 ordinary cat, and are more easily 

 trained in tricks than home cats. 

 The TORTOISESHELL has long 

 been looked upon as the national 

 cat of Spain, and in fact that 

 country is overrun with the 



1_ i r j Photo br T. Fain [Baier Strut 



breed, ranging from a dense 



LONG-HAIRED WHITE 



W 'kite cats with blue eyes are generally deaf, or at all events hard of hearing 



