THE CAT 



91 



^'et 



it by Cuvier. In scientific works " booted cat " 

 sometimes bears the name of "booted lynx." 



In tlie seventeenth century it was not un- 

 common to see, especially in Amsterdam, ti.t^- 

 ures of cats carved on the fronts of houses. 

 The custom came about in this \\3.\\ 

 Civet cats, originating in North .-' 

 Africa, and greatly prized, 

 especially in Spain where 

 they brought hisxh 

 prices, were import^' 

 into Holland by cer 

 tain merchants, wh' ' 

 formed a society foi 

 the propagation and 

 sale of them, and took 

 for its emblem a civ 

 cat. The value of the ani 

 mal came from a gland or lia 

 under its tail, containing a sub 

 stance that was made into a perfume ,, 



"^ USES OF 



and also into a remedy. Towards the 

 close of the seventeenth century this industry 

 disappeared for the simple reason that the musk 

 plant was discovered ; but the civet cat still 

 lingers on the architecture of Amsterdam. 



Speaking of architecture reminds us that 

 withered cats are found from time to time 

 under or between the walls of old houses. 

 They are marvelously well preserved ; death 

 has caught and stiffened them 

 in the moment of their utmost 

 agony. Their remarkable pres- 

 ervation comes, no doubt, 

 from the fact that the animal 

 has thrust itself through some 

 very narrow aperture, so 

 narrow that no air comes 

 through it, and the poor crea- 

 ture dies, and withers without 

 decaying. 



We frequently find cats in 

 heraldic art. The wife of King 

 Clovis bore a cat sable on her 

 blazon ; and the Katzen family 

 of the present day bears an 

 argent cat on an azure field. 

 The celebrated printers Sessa, 



of Venice, always placed a cat device on the 

 last page of their editions. The Romans painted 

 cats on several of the banners of their legions. 

 The famous cohort (subdivision of the legion) 

 nf the llapjiy Old Men — Felices seniores — 

 - .^ bore a banner with a red cat 

 landing on a gold ground. 



X. Tr.mmng and 

 Mice Hunting 



The word "training" 

 in its true sense 

 applies, naturally, 

 far less to cats than 

 to dogs. They are 

 not used for ordinaiy 

 hunting, though in 

 Cyprus they are taught to 

 unt snakes, and in Russia 

 the domestic cat catches great 

 quantities of those reptiles in sum- 

 mer. This same trait is not un- 

 known in America. In Paraguay cats attack and 

 kill rattlesnakes. They will also catch tortoises, 

 and do good service during plagues of grass- 

 hoppers, locusts, and cockchafers, of which 

 they destroy enormous quantities. But in all 

 this there is no question of training ; instinct 

 and natural impulse are the sole guides to their 

 behavior. There arc, of course, instances of cats 



,\N Old H.\t 



BOOTEU C.\T 



