THE SHORT-HAIRED CAT 203 



THE SHORT-HAIRED ABYSSINIAN CAT 



I am not sure if this is not absolutely the least fre- 

 quently seen of any variety of domesticated cat in this 

 country, which leads me to think it has never become 

 popular, either with fanciers or the public. 



I have not heard its title to the name Abyssinian 

 disputed, and have every reason to believe the first speci- 

 mens which appeared were imported from that distant 

 land. In fact, it is asserted by some who profess to have 

 gone deeply into the subject, that this is the same variety 

 as was held in such reverence by the Egyptians in past 

 ages, and of which shiploads of their mummies, or rather 

 embalmed bodies, were discovered a few years since, and 

 created a profound sensation in scientific circles. 



If this idea proves to be correct it will considerably 

 alter the position of the variety in the eyes of the breeders 

 and fanciers of cats, pointing it out as lineal descendant 

 of the ancestors of the short-haired cats of Europe, which, 

 as I have said in another place in these sketches, are sup- 

 posed, with the single exception of the native Wild Cat, 

 to owe their origin to the short-haired cats imported from 

 Egypt. 



Another name by which this variety is sometimes 

 called is the Bunny Cat, given I think on account of the 

 ticked grey colour of the coat, which has much the same 

 aspect as that of the wild rabbit. 



As far as I have seen of both varieties, there is no 

 other of the Short Hairs domesticated in this country, 

 which is so much like our native Wild Cat, as this, except 



