Photo by Ottomar Anschütz] [Berlin.
A CHEETA ON THE LOOK-OUT.
Cheetas are common to Africa and India. By the native princes of the latter country they are much used for taking antelope and other game.
THE DOMESTIC CAT.
BY LOUIS WAIN.
Of the domestication of the cat we know very little, but it is recorded that a tribe of cats was trained to retrieve—i.e. to fetch and carry game. In our own time I have seen many cats fetch and carry corks and newspapers, and on one occasion pounce upon a small roach at the end of a line and place it at its owner's feet. Gamekeepers whom I have known agree that, for cunning, craftiness, and tenacity in attaining an object, the semi-wild cat of the woods shows far superior intelligence to the rest of the woodland denizens. It is quite a usual thing to hear of farm cats entering upon a snake-hunting expedition with the greatest glee, and showing remarkable readiness in pitching upon their quarry and pinning it down until secured. These farm cats are quite a race by themselves. Of decided sporting proclivities, they roam the countryside with considerable fierceness, and yet revert to the domesticity of the farmhouse fireside as though innocent of roving instincts. They are spasmodic to a degree in their mode of life, and apparently work out one mood before entering upon another. It will be remembered that this spasmodic tendency—the true feline independence, by-the-bye—is and has been characteristic of the cat throughout its history, and any one who has tried to overcome it has met with failure.
Photo by T. Fall] [Baker Street.
WHITE SHORT-HAIRED.
Most white cats are not albinoes—that is to say, they have ordinarily coloured and not red eyes.