“Zula,” the property of Mrs. Captain Barrett-Lennard. This cat was brought from Abyssinia at the conclusion of the war, fed on the way home on raw beef, and was long very wild. She is now very fond of her mistress, but has a great many eccentricities which other cats have not, and is altogether a wonderful specimen of cat-kind.
ADDENDA.
I deem it fair both to myself and to the reader, to supplement my own evidence on the “Curiosities of Cat Life,” by giving the names and addresses of my authorities for those of my anecdotes, which may seem to run contrary to the generally received opinions, concerning cats; at the same time thanking those ladies and gentlemen, who have taken so much interest in the progress of this work, and expressed themselves willing to vouch for the truth of the incidents herein related by me. I have tried to make the anecdotes as readable as possible, and as humorous, as I know many people think “cats” a dry subject; but in no single instance have the interests of truth been disregarded. My anecdotes are what might be called sample anecdotes, as I have many hundreds more of the same sort, my object being to describe pussy as she really is, and thus to gain favour for an animal hitherto understood only by the few, and abused by the many. And, nothing would give me greater pain, than the reader to have an idea, that my cats are exceptional cats; for, I distinctly aver, that no cat mentioned in this book, has either done or suffered anything, which any other cat in the kingdom cannot do or suffer.
INDEX OF NAMES AND ADDRESSES.
Anderson, Alex., Mr., New Fowlis, Crieff, N.B.
Anderson, Jane, Miss, Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire.
Bird, Miss, Snowdon Place, Stirling.
Bonnar, T., Mr., Largoward, St. Andrews.
Budge, W., Mr., 113, Montrose Street, Brechin.