Cat Superstitions. There are many superstitions concerning the cat, the black variety coming in for the larger share of popular suspicion. To steal one and bury it alive was at one time regarded as a specific against cattle disease in the Irish Highlands, while, according to Captain Brown, it was the practice for families in Scotland to tie up their cats on Hallowe'en to prevent their use for equestrian purposes by witches during the night. "They have always been regarded as attendants upon witches," says Mrs. Bowdich, "and witches themselves have been said to borrow their shapes when on their mysterious expeditions. I was once told that Lord Cochrane was accompanied by a favourite black cat in a cruise through the northern seas. The weather had been most unpropitious; no day had passed without some untoward circumstance; and the sailors were not slow in attributing the whole to the influence of the black cat on board. This came to Lord Cochrane's ears, and knowing that any attempt to reason his men out of so absurd a notion was perfectly useless, he offered to sacrifice this object of his regard, and have her thrown overboard. This, however, far from creating any satisfaction, only alarmed the men still more. They were sure that the tempests she would then raise would be much worse than any they had yet encountered; and they implored his lordship to let her remain unmolested. 'There was no help, and they could only hope, if she were not affronted, they might at the end of their time reach England in safety.'"
The Cat as a Hunter. "The cat," says the Rev. J. G. Wood, "is familiarly known to us as a persevering mouse-hunter. So strong, indeed, is the passion for hunting in the breast of the cat, that she sometimes disdains mice, 'and such small deer,' and trespasses on warrens or preserves. A large tabby cat, residing at no great distance from White Horse Vale, was accustomed to go out poaching in the preserves of a neighbouring nobleman, and so expert was she at this illegal sport that she constantly returned bearing in her mouth a leveret or a partridge, which she insisted on presenting to her mistress, who in vain endeavoured to check her marauding propensities. These exploits, however, brought their own punishment; for one day, when in the act of seizing a leveret, she found herself caught in a vermin trap, which deprived her of one of her hind legs. This misfortune did not damp her enthusiasm for hunting, as, although the loss of a leg prevented her from chasing hares, and suchlike animals, she would still bring in an occasional rat."
The Cat and her Young. "A cat, which had a numerous litter of kittens," says Captain Brown, "one sunny day encouraged her little ones to frolic in the vernal beams of noon, about the stable door, where she was domiciled. While she was joining them in a thousand tricks and gambols, a large hawk, who was sailing above the barn-yard, in a moment darted upon one of the kittens, and would have as quickly borne it off, but for the courageous mother, who, seeing the danger of her offspring, sprang on the common enemy, who, to defend itself, let fall the prize. The battle presently became severe to both parties. The hawk, by the power of his wings, the sharpness of his talons, and the strength of his beak, had for a while the advantage, cruelly lacerating the poor cat, and had actually deprived her of one eye in the conflict; but puss, no way daunted at the accident, strove, with all her cunning and agility, for her kittens, till she had broken the wing of her adversary. In this state, she got him more within the power of her claws, and availing herself of this advantage, by an instantaneous exertion, she laid the hawk motionless beneath her feet; and, as if exulting in the victory, tore the head off the vanquished tyrant. This accomplished, disregarding the loss of her eye, she ran to the bleeding kitten, licked the wounds made by the hawk's talons in its tender sides, and purred whilst she caressed her liberated offspring."
The Cat as a Foster Mother. The female cat seems to be in a special sense a born mother. She is assiduous in the care of her own young and singularly ready to extend the benefits of motherhood even to alien offspring. Instances are on record in which cats have reared squirrels, dogs, leverets, rats, ducks, chickens, and even small birds. These have usually occurred at times when the cats have been deprived of their own young. Mr. T. Foggitt says: "A cat belonging to the Albert Dock Warehouse, Liverpool, gave birth to six kittens. It was deemed necessary to destroy four of them, and they were accordingly drowned. The remaining two were placed, along with their mother, in some loose cotton, collected for the purpose in a box, in one of the warehouse rooms. On removing the box a few mornings after, to give puss her usual breakfast, great curiosity was excited on seeing a third added to the number; and the astonishment was still greater when the third was discovered to be a young rat which the cat had taken from its nest in the night-time, and brought home as a companion to the kittens she was then nursing. The young rat was very lively, and was treated by the cat with the same attention and care as if it were one of her own offspring."
The Cat as a Traveller. The distances that cats will travel, finding their way with unerring instinct many miles across country of which there seems no reason to suppose them to have had previous knowledge is very remarkable. Mrs. Bowdich records the case of a cat who disliking her new home, returned to her old one, in doing which, she had to cross two rivers, one of them about eighty feet broad and two feet and a half deep, running strong; the other wider and more rapid, but less deep. Cats are said to have found their way from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and one to the writer's knowledge returned from Dover to Canterbury after being carried from thence by rail. Captain Brown gives the following remarkable instance. In June, 1825, a farmer, residing in the neighbourhood of Ross, sent a load of grain to Gloucester, a distance of about sixteen miles. The waggoners loaded in the evening, and started early in the morning. On unloading at Gloucester, a favourite cat, belonging to the farmer, was found among the sacks, with two kittens of very recent birth. The waggoner very humanely placed puss and her young in a hay-loft, where he expected they would remain in safety, until he should be ready to depart for home. On his return to the loft shortly afterwards, neither cat nor kittens were to be found, and he reluctantly left town without them. Next morning the cat entered the kitchen of her master's house with one kitten in her mouth. It was dead; but she placed it before the fire, and without seeking food, or indulging, for a moment, in the genial warmth of her domestic hearth, disappeared again. In a short time she returned with the other kitten, laid it down by the first, stretched herself beside them, and instantly expired! The poor creature could have carried but one at a time, and, consequently, must have travelled three times over the whole line of her journey, and performed forty-eight miles in less than twelve hours.
The Cat as Sportsman. The favourite food of the cat is fish, which curiously enough inhabits an element to which the cat has a great aversion. There are, however, numerous instances on record of cats which have overcome their natural antipathy to water in order to gratify their natural taste for fish. An extraordinary case of this kind is recorded in the Plymouth Journal, June, 1828:—"There is now at the battery on the Devil's Point, a cat, which is an expert catcher of the finny tribe, being in the constant habit of diving into the sea, and bringing up the fish alive in her mouth, and depositing them in the guard-room, for the use of the soldiers. She is now seven years old, and has long been a useful caterer. It is supposed that her pursuit of the water-rats first taught her to venture into the water, to which it is well known puss has a natural aversion. She is as fond of the water as a Newfoundland dog, and takes her regular peregrinations along the rocks at its edge, looking out for her prey, ready to dive for them at a moment's notice."
Mr. Beverley R. Morris says: "When living in Worcester many years ago, I remember frequently seeing the cat of a near neighbour of ours bring fish, mostly eels, into the house, which it used to catch in a pond not far off. This was an almost everyday occurrence."
The Cat's Intelligence. Many remarkable illustrations might be given of the sagacity and intelligence of the cat. A lady had for many years been the possessor of a cat and a canary bird, who became the closest friends, never bearing any lengthy separation from each other, and spending their whole time in each other's society. One summer day the lady was sitting working in her drawing-room, and the cat and bird were a short distance off. Suddenly, without a moment's deliberation, the cat, to the great astonishment of the lady, uttered a loud growl, and then, seizing her little playmate in her mouth, darted off with it to a place of safety. A strange cat had entered the room and the friendly one had adopted this plan of saving the bird from the enemy. A still more remarkable illustration of the intelligence of a cat is given by De la Croix as follows: "I once saw," says he, "a lecturer upon experimental philosophy place a cat under the glass receiver of an air-pump, for the purpose of demonstrating that very certain fact, that life cannot be supported without air and respiration. The lecturer had already made several strokes with the piston, in order to exhaust the receiver of its air, when the animal, who began to feel herself very uncomfortable in the rarefied atmosphere, was fortunate enough to discover the source from which her uneasiness proceeded. She placed her paw upon the hole through which the air escaped, and thus prevented any more from passing out of the receiver. All the exertions of the philosopher were now unavailing; in vain he drew the piston; the cat's paw effectually prevented its operation. Hoping to effect his purpose, he let air again into the receiver, which, as soon as the cat perceived, she withdrew her paw from the aperture; but whenever he attempted to exhaust the receiver, she applied her paw as before. All the spectators clapped their hands in admiration of the wonderful sagacity of the animal, and the lecturer found himself under the necessity of liberating her, and substituting in her place another, that possessed less penetration, and enabled him to exhibit the cruel experiment."
The Lynx. The several species of the Lynx belong to the genus Lyncus, the principle varieties of which are the Canada Lynx, and the European Lynx. The Lynx has short legs, and is generally about the size of a fox, attaining often to three feet in length. It preys upon small quadrupeds and birds, in the pursuit of which it is an expert climber. The Canada Lynx preys largely upon the American hare, which it is well qualified to hunt. The Lynx is distinguished by a peculiar gait, for unlike other animals, it bounds with, and alights upon, all four feet at once. The ears are erect, and tipped with a long pencil of black hair. The fur which is long and thick is of a pale grey colour, with a reddish tinge, marked with dusky spots on the upper part of the body. The under parts are white. The European Lynx feeds upon small animals and birds. The fur of the lynx is valuable, on account of its great softness and warmth, and is in consequence an extensive article of commerce. It inhabits the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America; and prefers cold or temperate climates, differing in this respect from most of the cat tribe.
The Chetah. The Chetah or Hunting Leopard is the one species of the genus Cynœlurus. It is a handsome animal and capable of considerable training. According to Mr. Benet's description it is "intermediate in size between the leopard and the hound, more slender in its body, more elevated in its legs, and less flattened on the fore part of its head than the leopard, while deficient in the peculiarly graceful and lengthened form, both of head and body, which characterizes the hound." "The ground colour of the Chetah is a bright yellowish fawn above, and nearly pure white beneath; covered above, and on the sides, by innumerable closely approximating spots, from half an inch to an inch in diameter, which are intensely black, and do not, as in the leopard and other spotted cats, form roses with a lighter centre, but are full and complete." The Chetah is found in India and Africa but it is only in India that it is trained for hunting purposes. Sir William Jardine says: "the employment of the hunting leopard may be compared to the sport of falconry. The natural instinct teaches them to pursue the game, the reward of a portion of it, or of the blood, induces them to give it up, and again subject themselves to their master."