THE SHORT-HAIRED CAT 201 



some of those that have taken the highest honours at shows 

 as genuine Old English sheep dogs) had their tails docked, 

 many are born entirely without those useful appendages. 



My ideas about the Manx Cat are as follows : 



The head should be of moderate size, round, not 

 very short in face, but long in neck, with sloping shoulders, 

 and rather wide and deep in chest. 



The ears very erect and open to the front, large 

 rather than small, with rounded tips. 



The eyes large, round, rather staring and prominent, 

 coloured according to the body colour. 



The fore legs straight, well boned and strong ; and 

 the hind legs much longer, very well boned and muscular, 

 with powerful hind quarters ; in action the Manx seems 

 to hop, or jump along, more with the movements associ- 

 ated with a hare than of a cat, and must be seen to be 

 properly appreciated. 



The body should be well knit, rather lengthy, inclined 

 to be flat-sided, not, as a rule, very bulky, but strong. 



The tail should be absent, but, as I have said, there is 

 sometimes a little gristly thin ending to the spine, in a 

 tuft of hair, where the tail would be in other varieties. 



The coat should be short, fine and close lying to the 

 skin, soft and smooth to the touch, perhaps a little more 

 abundant on the shoulders, chest and hind quarters than any- 

 where else, but not so as to take away its sleek appearance. 



The condition should be firm, hard and muscular, 

 with no superfluous fat about it ; and the general appear- 

 ance that of an alert, active animal of much power and 

 energetic character. 



