THE CAT 



>i5 



The cat called the " Carthusian 

 friar" is blue, with very long hne 

 hair. In Holland there is a breed ot 

 very handsome short-haired blue cats 

 which would find a great market it 

 some intelligent person would undei 

 take to breed them. It was our inten 

 tion to reproduce a group of them 

 here, but photography was jjowerless 

 to give an idea of the beautiful coloi 

 of the living animal. 



Blue-gray cats, whose color is far 

 from being as beautiful as that of the 

 foregoing species, often have white 

 patches on the breast, the paws, and 

 sometimes the head. The soot-colored, 

 or "tabby," cat, sometimes called the 

 gray cat, is the one most frequently 



seen in our houses and gardens 



Transversal 



black stripes, sometimes black with brown 

 edges, encircle the legs, tail, and neck, and go 

 down the sides of the animal. Often these lines 

 go from the eyes to the forehead, forming sin- 

 gular figures, in which (by an effort of imag- 

 ination) the owner sometimes deciphers a 

 monogram. Most of these cats, of less pure 

 descent, have white patches on their heads, 

 which exclude them from exhibitions. Are gray 

 cats better mousers than all others .? They are 

 said to be ; but if the fact 

 be true, it cannot result 

 from the color, because, 

 as we very well know, 

 " by night all cats are 

 gray." 



Other gray cats that 

 are almost black have 

 white paws and a white 

 line between the eyes. 

 The blacker the cat and 

 the whiter the line the 

 more the animal is 

 valued. The contrary, 

 namely a wholly white 

 body with black head 

 and tail, characterizes 

 the Moorish cats, a race 



which breeding would 



White Perslan o 



From painting 



A Celicbraticd T.\r',r,v. A Piuze Winner 



I'^i'om p:uiilin,t^ l.iy E. l.aiidi.n 



greati)' iniprox^e. The striped and very tall 

 Cyprus cat is universally renowned. Its stripes 

 are gray or black on a yellow ground, but they 

 must be perfectly distinct. Many cats are sold 

 under the name of " Cyprus cats," in whose 

 veins there is not a drojj of C)'priot blood and 

 whose ancestors ne\'er saw the island of Cyprus. 

 Among the long-haired cats we meet the 

 imposing Angora, white in color, with a mag- 

 nificent plumed tail. There are cats of this race 

 of sex'eral other colors, but breeders are en- 

 deavoring to keep them 

 pure white ; and as this 

 color propagates itself 

 with some constancy, 

 they are succeeding. 

 The Angora being espe- 

 cially a parlor cat, \-ery 

 sensitive to cold and 

 dampness, and conse- 

 quentl)' delicate in con- 

 stitution, their owners 

 slmuld a\-oid giving them 

 dainties, such as tri|ie, 

 giblets, or scraps of fish, 

 since their digestion is 

 upset much sooner than 

 that of other cats. 

 K Great Beauty The Persian cat has 



by E. Landor silk)' hair, very long and 



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