House and Garden 
yields his love for love’s sake, not as an act of sub¬ 
mission. He gives his all, but in return expects 
that kindly consideration due to his allegiance. 
Open hearted, honest and true, his devotion is 
unbounded, and he is incapable of a mean action. 
The pictures in this magazine of “Dolly Gray” 
and “Kenvil Blinkers” sho'w us the true type of dog 
according to English ideas. Our judges are too 
much inclined to consider size rather than quality, 
some of the recent awards to dogs with almost 
greyhound heads is entirely contrary to the right 
type of dog. The Sheep Dog Club’s scale of points 
says “a long narrow head is a deformity.” Also 
that he should be absolutely free from legginess, 
which is so often evident in a large dog. 
SOMETHING ABOUT CATS 
T^HE Fehdce, or the great family of cats, contains 
those beasts of prey which are the most perfect 
in organization, attractive in appearance and terrible 
in destructive power. The 
catalogue of the great fam¬ 
ily begins with the lion 
(Felis leo) and ends with the 
common house cat (Felis 
domesticd). Existing records 
seem to prove that the cat 
has been tamed and kept 
by man in a domestic state 
as far in the remote past 
as 2000 to 2500 years be¬ 
fore the Christian era. In 
Egypt, which supplies us 
with the major part of the 
evidence of the cat’s antiq¬ 
uity, the animal was of 
the utmost importance, 
being in many sections 
worshipped as a deity and everywhere treated ,with 
great respect. Herodotus says that nothing was 
more remarkable than the respect paid to their 
sacred animals by the Egyptians; and when a cat 
died every inmate of the house shaved off his eye¬ 
brows; and if a dwelling burned the cats were to be 
saved at every hazard. Diodorus Siculus relates 
that a Roman soldier once killed a cat by accident 
in Egypt and the people were so infuriated that the 
soldier had to be killed to placate the mob. This 
happening was when the country was under Roman 
dominion. 
Erom Egypt the domestic cat was probably 
introduced into Italy and Greece. A fresco painting 
of a cat was found in Pompeii. No end of evi¬ 
dence could be given to prove the antiquity of the 
domestic cat. It is probably a fact that the original 
domestic cat was derived from several wild strains 
of Fehdce. In the Middle Ages, according to 
Mivart, great value was set upon the cat and in 
certain European countries a heavy fine was imposed 
upon any one who killed this animal, the compen¬ 
sation being as much wheat as would form a pile 
sufficient to cover the animal to the tip of its tail 
when held vertically with its muzzle resting on the 
ground. 
The domestic cat crosses readily with any or all 
of the wild species with which it may come into 
contact; and the hybrids thus produced are also 
fertile. Indeed the domestic cat may be said to have 
great gifts as a breeder. The female begins to breed 
at about a year old and the period of gestation is 
fifty-five days. Three litters a year would not be 
remarkable. There are many races of domestic 
cats, some of which are distinguished by peculiarities 
that are apparently restricted to certain countries 
only. Some of them are:—the tailless cats with 
lengthened hind legs, of the Isle of Man; those with 
truncated tails, inhabiting the MalayanArchipelago, 
Siam, Pegu and Burma; cats with drooping ears 
from China. Some races 
also are noted for length¬ 
ened fur, like the Angora 
or Persian breed. The 
colors of the domestic cats 
are numerous, consisting 
of black, white, striped 
black on a gray ground, 
tortoise-shell, gray, mouse 
color, sandy and brown. 
Black cats generally have 
yellow eyes; white ones 
have sometimes blue eyes, 
and are then usually 
deaf; sometimes their eyes 
are different in color^—one 
blue, the other tinged 
with green. Tortoise-shell 
cats are mostly females, a male of this color being a 
great rarity. 
The actions of the domestic cat in approaching, 
springing upon and seizing a mouse exactly portray, 
on a greatly reduced scale, those of its large relative 
the tiger when attacking its prey in the jungle. 
The same graceful motions of the lithe body are seen 
in both creatures; and the stroke from the armed 
paw is delivered by both animals alike. The sense 
of smell in the cat is not well developed; and its chief 
reliance in catching prey is quick sight, astonishing 
rapidity of movement, together with sharp claws and 
teeth. As a rule the domestic cat is more attached 
to buildings or certain localities than to persons; 
but it is frequently possessed of an affectionate dis¬ 
position and quickly recognizes any one from whom 
it has received kindness, evincing its pleasure by 
loud purring, and with elevated tail endeavoring 
to rub itself against the individual whose attention 
PERSIAN CAT “ KIM ” 
Owned by Mrs. Appleton, City Island, N. Y. 
182 
