The most astonishing tale we have met with, with respect to their intelligence and sensibility, is one by Mr. C. H. Ross. He states that a Cat in his possession “would climb upon the top of the piano, and, sitting close underneath the picture” of a Bulldog, “fix its eyes upon the Dog’s face, and, putting back its ears, remain there, with a wild and terrified expression, for as long as an hour at a time,” and this, too, while there were two living Dogs in the house with whom she was on perfectly good terms. This is extraordinary enough, for it is usually stated that animals do not recognise pictures unless they are coloured, and the illustration in question was an engraving. But the queerest part of the story is yet to come. “During the time that he noticed this conduct on the Cat’s part, she was with kitten, and when the four kittens were born they were dead, and one of them, strange to say, had a Bull-dog-shaped head, marked almost exactly like the picture!”

Instances are not wanting in which Cats have formed friendships with birds—creatures which, as a rule, they look upon as their natural prey. One example of an affection of this sort is extremely curious. A Cat and a Canary had acquired a great fondness for one another. The Canary used to perch on the Cat’s back and play all sorts of pranks with it. One day their master saw, with horror, the feline Damon rush upon his passerine Pythias and seize it in his mouth. He naturally thought that at last nature had triumphed over grace, but on looking round saw that another Cat had entered the room, to whose tender mercies the bird-lover would by no means trust his little friend.

Like its natural enemy the Dog, the Cat is sometimes afflicted with rabies, or madness. Mr. Youatt, a great authority on the subject, says:—“Fortunately for us this does not often occur; for a mad Cat is a truly ferocious animal. I have seen two cases, one of them to my cost; yet I am unable to give any satisfactory account of the progress of the disease. The first stage seems to be one of sullenness, and which would probably last to death; but from that sullenness it is dangerous to rouse the animal. It probably would not, except in the paroxysm of rage, attack any one; but during that paroxysm it has no fear, nor has its ferocity any bounds.

“A Cat that had been the inhabitant of a nursery, and the playmate of the children, had all at once become sullen and ill-tempered. It had taken refuge in an upper room, and could not be coaxed from the corner in which it had crouched. It was nearly dark when I went. I saw the horrible glare of her eyes, but I could not see so much of her as I wished, and I said that I would call again in the morning. I found the patient on the following day precisely in the same situation and the same attitude, crouched up in a corner, and ready to spring. I was very much interested in the case; and as I wanted to study the countenance of this demon, for she looked like one, I was foolishly, inexcusably imprudent. I went on my hands and knees, and brought my face nearly on a level with hers, and gazed on those glaring eyes and that horrible countenance, until I seemed to feel the deathly influence of a spell stealing over me. I was not afraid, but every mental and bodily power was, in a manner, suspended. My countenance, perhaps, alarmed her, for she sprang on me, fastened herself on my face, and bit through both my lips. She then darted down-stairs, and, I believe, was never seen again. I always have nitrate of silver in my pocket; even now I am never without it. I washed myself and applied the caustic with some severity to the wound; and my medical adviser and valued friend, Mr. Millington, punished me still more after I got home. My object was attained, although at somewhat too much cost, for the expression of that brute’s countenance will never be forgotten.”

DOMESTIC CATS—A STUDY.

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Except as fur-bearing animals, Cats are made no direct use of, save as Mouse and Rat-catchers. In this capacity they are quite invaluable, for these destructive little Rodents increase and multiply to such an extent, that if it was not for some such check as that afforded by the presence of a good mouser, many places would be as much overrun, and the inhabitants put to as much inconvenience, as were the people amongst whom Dick Whittington’s lot was cast. With regard to the number of these plagues of which a single Cat can rid the neighbourhood, it is stated by M. Lenz, as a well-ascertained fact, that a Cat of ordinary size is fully capable of catching and eating twenty Mice a day, or 7,300 a year! Besides Rats and Mice, they are fond of insects, such as Cockroaches; and in some countries, such as Paraguay, they are found to be of great value in killing Serpents, which, however, they are said never to eat, slaying them by repeated dexterous blows of the paw, simply for the sport.

The Domestic Cat is found wherever civilised man exists. It occurs throughout Europe and Asia, and has spread largely in America and Australia since the discovery of these continents by Europeans. The best-marked variety of the species is the beautiful Angora Cat, which is larger than the ordinary Cat, and covered with long fine hair, usually snow-white. The Manx Cat, native only in the Isle of Man, is distinguished by the very remarkable character of being tailless, or, at least, that appendage is quite rudimentary. In other respects, it does not differ from the ordinary varieties. The Persian Cat is a very fine variety often seen in English drawing-rooms; its hair is long, though nothing like so long as that of the Angora. It is a remarkably lazy beast, and far less interesting than the ordinary kind.