70 THE TOWER MENAGERIE, 
and manners of a brace of greyhounds. When noticed 
or fondled they purr like a cat; and this is their usual 
mode of expressing pleasure. If, on the other hand, 
they are uneasy, whether that uneasiness arises from 
cold, from a craving after food, from a jealous appre- 
hension of being neglected, or from any other cause, 
their note consists of a short, uniform, and repeated 
mew. They are extremely fond of play, and their man- 
ner of playing very much resembles that of the cat; with 
this difference, however, that it never, as in the latter 
animal, degenerates into malicious cunning or wanton 
mischief. Their character, indeed, seems to be entirely 
free from that sly and suspicious feeling of mistrust 
which is so strikingly visible in the manners and actions 
of all the cats, and which renders them so little suscep- 
tible of real or lasting attachment. The Chetahs, on the 
contrary, speedily become fond of those who are kind to 
them, and exhibit their fondness in an open, frank, and 
confiding manner. There can, in fact, be little doubt 
that they might with the greatest facility be reduced to a 
state of perfect domestication, and rendered nearly as 
familiar and as faithful as the dog himself. . 
