AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



39 



date the time b) r half a century, as state the true year of 

 their attempts at immortality." In conclusion, we cannot 

 help remarking, that Providence, as it were, to show us the 

 small value of animal existence, abstractly considered, has 

 bestowed great longevity on a reptile that squanders 

 away more than two-thirds of its life in the most pro- 

 found torpor, and in joyless stupidity. 



Hints respecting the Domestic Cat. — As it is not my 

 intention to write the natural history of the domestic cat, I 

 shall not assert with many authors, that the wild cat, which 

 is confined to the woods of Europe and Asia, is the parent 

 stock of the whole race; nor will I attempt to decide on 

 that particular species which was brought by the Indians 

 to Columbus, when he discovered America. Thus much, 

 however, I may say, that wild cats are found in almost 

 every country and climate. My present design confines 

 me to the common house cat, called by the familiar name 

 of tortoise-shell,* tabby, or puss. Though Soninit has 

 given puss traits of character which place him in a most 

 amiable and interesting point of view, I feel compelled, 

 though I do it with great reluctance, to pronounce him un- 

 grateful, ungenerous, and deceitful; though with all these 

 abominable qualities, an important domestic. But this is 

 all foreign to the subject: My present intention is to in- 

 quire into the cause of some signs which the cat exhibits, 

 at particular stages of the weather. 



Linnseus gives, as one of the specific characteristics of 

 the domestic cat, that he washes his face and behind his 

 ears with his fore feet at the approach of a storm. % How- 

 ever strange or fanciful this may appear, there is, I think, 

 no doubt of the fact. I have observed it often, and have 

 found it an unerring prognostic of falling weather ; in 

 winter, of snow, and in summer, of rain. I shall now offer 

 what I think a sufficient explanation of this remarkable 

 fact. We know that some animals have a greater capacity 

 for electricity, and exhibit much stronger signs of it, than 

 others. The gymnotus electricus, or electrical eel, will 

 give a shock to any number of persons, in the same man- 

 ner as the leyden jar. The electrical properties of the 

 torpedo, or cramp-fish, are so remarkable, that for a long 

 time they were considered fabulous. Some other fish 

 might be mentioned, as possessing this property. The ex- 

 periment of producing sparks of electrical fire, by rubbing 

 the back of a cat, is familiar to almost every one;§ the glit- 



* It has been asserted that the tortoise-shell cat is indigenous to Spain and 

 that it constitutes a distinct variety of the common species ; this opinion, I 

 have good reason to believe, has no sufficient ground for its support. 



j- See Sonini's Travels in Egypt. 



% See Turton's, Linnaeus, vol. i. p. 49. 



§ It is said that black cats give out more electric fire than those of any 

 other colour. If this be a fact, may it not lead to some important results in 



tering of the eyes by night, may, I think, be also stated 

 as another proof of the presence of the fluid. The ears of 

 the cat, and some portions of the face, are without hair; 

 such places are good conductors of electricity; but the 

 whole body of the animal being enveloped in a hairy co- 

 vering, is a non-conductor. If, therefore, the fluid escapes, 

 or passes off in any considerable quantity, it must be at 

 the ears or face. This can be proved by experiment: 

 Upon rubbing the back of the animal in favourable wea- 

 ther, and presenting your knuckle to the ear, a spark will 

 be received; — a spark, however, cannot be obtained from 

 any part of the body, a few scintillations only following 

 the hand in the act of rubbing. Cats, we know, have a 

 natural antipathy to water and moist air, and delight in dry 

 and warm situations. It is hardly necessary to state, that 

 a damp atmosphere is one of the best conductors of elec- 

 tricity, or that a dry one is necessary for its collection and 

 retention. From what has now been advanced, the con- 

 clusion is obvious. The vapour or humidity of the air, 

 serving as a conductor, draws off or absorbs the electric 

 matter from the animal, and the fluid passing off with more 

 readiness, and in the greatest quantity, at the ears, must 

 occasion sensations in that particular part, either agreeable 

 or troublesome, which induces the motion of the fore foot as 

 above stated. That some animals are more readily affect- 

 ed by changes in the atmosphere than others, and that they 

 exhibit signs of these variations, cannot be doubted. The 

 difficulty is, to explain with clearness and precision how 

 this takes place. Mr. J. Taylor, in an interesting little 

 volume, called the Complete weather guide, has given a 

 chapter on the common and familiar signs exhibited by 

 animals which indicate approaching changes of weather; 

 in this chapter, he passes without notice, our friend, the cat. 



RED FLAMINGO. 

 PHCENICOPTERUS RUBER. 



[Plate IV. Vol. 3.] 



Le Flammant, Briss. vi, p. 533, pi. 47, fig.l. — Buff, 

 viii, p. 475, pi. 39. PL Enl. 63. — Lath. Syn. in, p. 

 299. — Arct. Zool. No. 422. — Phosnicopterus Baham- 

 ensis, Catesby, i, pi. 73, 74. — Philadelphia Museum. 



This singular but beautiful plumed bird, strictly belongs 

 to the North American Ornithology, although it is found 



the construction of electric machines. It has been found that the power of 

 a white glass cylinder, is considerably increased by coating the inner surface 

 with a coloured electric, such as rosin, or bees-wax. 



