THE CAT FAMILY. 125 



THE DOMESTIC CAT. 



Not every Domestic Cat is a house cat, but all House 

 Cats belong to Domestic species. While the skins of a 

 number of varieties of domesticated cats who live out 

 doors are extensively used by furriers, the skin of the House 

 Cat is of little commercial value. 



The House Cat of our homes is one of the animals that 

 has become attached to civilization all over the world. 

 There are many species in the Cat Family, but the House 

 Cat is the one familiar to us all. We have all played with 

 it in childhood or watched it roll the spools or grand- 

 mother's ball of yarn across the kitchen floor, and have 

 heard it purr contentedly before the fire, or seen it basking 

 in the sunshine on the porch of the old homestead. We 

 have all been reminded at times by the sting of the sharp 

 claws hidden in the velvet paw, and its cruelty to the 

 mouse within its grasp, of the inherent treacherous, savage 

 nature that lies dormant under its apparently gentle 

 disposition. The House Cat makes us think of 

 home and the fireside, just as the dog recalls to the mem- 

 ory of most of us, the days in camp and tramps through 

 the woods, or walks along the shore. The Cat is not as 

 intelligent or affectionate as the dog. It is attached to 

 the house and its surroundings, rather than the individual. 

 A dog will follow his master to the ends of the earth 

 and if needs be die in his defense, but the cat will fly 

 from him upon the first approach of danger. The one 

 is a faithful, dumb friend, upon whose loyalty we can 

 always depend, the other is a sleek, unctous brute time 

 server. 



The House Cat though naturally timid will fight 

 desperately in its own defense. No one who has lain 

 awake listening to the caterwauling of this animal, rang- 

 ing in volume of sound from the low plaintive cry of an 

 infant, to the loud, discordant tones of an enraged virago, 

 will doubt that there is a cat in every well regulated 

 household and some to spare. 



This animal begins to produce at the end of the first 

 year; bringing forth four to six young ones, two or even 

 three times a year. 



