SO^ THE DOMESTIC GAT. 



should be fostered and cherished by a fierce Gri- 

 jnalk'm. 



To preser\'e their fur clean, and especially their 

 whiskers, Cats wash their faces, and generally quite 

 behind their ears, every time they eat. As they 

 .cannot lick thoae places with their tongues, they first 

 wet the inside of the leg with the saliva, and then 

 lepeatedly rub them over with it. This Dr. Darwin, 

 whimsically enough, esteems an act of reasoning; 

 Because, says lie^, a means is used to produce an 

 effect ; which means seems to be acquired by imi- 

 tation, like the greatest part of human arts. 



A friend of the Doctor's saw a Cat catch a Trout, 

 by darting upon it in a deep clear water, at the mill 

 at Wcaford, near Litchfield. The Cat belonged to 

 Mr. Stanley ; v/ho had often seen lier .catch fish in 

 the same manner in the summer, when the mill-pool 

 was drawn so low that the fish could be seem Other 

 Cats have been known to take fish in shallow water, 

 as they stood on the bank. This he thinks a natural 

 act of taking prey, which their acquired delicacy by 

 domestication, has, in general, prevented them from 

 using, though their desire of eating fish continues in 

 its orip-inal strensith. 



These animals seeiri to possess something like au 

 additional sense by means of their whiskers, which 

 liave perhaps some analogv to the antcnnog of Moths 

 •and Eutterflies. The whiskers of Cats consist not 

 only of long hairs on their upper lips, but also of 

 four or five long hairs standing up from each eye- 

 brow, and also two or three on each check ; all 

 v^li'cli; when the animal erects tlicm^ make wjth 



