marts would seem to apply only to such animals as, when in 

 a wild state, depend in a measure for their safety on their 

 acute hearing, but when reduced to domestication, and con- 

 sequent non-reliance on their own exertions, an exquisite ear 

 is no longer necessary, and so the organ from sheer laxity faUs 

 out of shape. The rabbit is a good instance of this, as are 

 lap dogs of various sorts ; but it cannot be so said of the cat 

 whose ears after centuries of domestication are as stiff and 

 alert as those of her ancestors, who ran wild in a wood and 

 listened for the stealthy footfall of the rabbit or the rustle of 

 the bird. So it is again with the horse, and evidently because 

 that in domestication they have as much need of their ears as 

 when in a wild condition. 



The tortoisesheU, or Spanish cat, may be known from its 

 colours — white, black, and reddish brown — and from its elegant 

 and delicate form ; the blue, or Ohartreus, cat by its long slate 

 coloured fur, and the bushiness of its neck and tail. It is generally 

 supposed that the " Tabby" coloured cat has a shorter domestic 

 pedigree than any other. 



It is the fashion to ascribe to the cat very few good quahties. 

 She is said to be selfish, cruel, greedy, and without an atom of 

 affection; indeed, to be in disposition the very reverse to the 

 dog. Popular opinion may be said to be fairly summarized in 

 the following effusion of a modern writer : — " I do not love the 

 cat — his disposition is mean and suspicious. A friendship of 

 years is cancelled in a moment by an accidental tread on his 

 tail or foot. He instantly spits, raises his rump, twirls his 

 tail of malignity, and shuns you ; turning back, as off he goes, 

 a staring vindictive face full of fury and unforgiveness, seeming 

 to say, ' I hate you for ever.' But the dog is my delight. Tread 

 on his tail or foot he expresses for a moment the uneasiness of 

 his feelings, but in an instant more the complaint is ended. He 

 runs around you, jumps up against you, seems to declare his 

 sorrow for complaining, as he was not intentionally hurt ; nay, 

 to make himself the aggressor he begs by whinings and lickings 

 that his master will think no more of it." 



So much against the cat ; now for evidence in favour of the 

 maligned animal, not hearsay evidence but that derived from 

 practical experience and furnished by living witnesses 



