The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-10-06
THE HOUSE CAT.
Much Room For Dicussion Abort This Tn.
Pet-Its Immediate Relatives Have Bad
Regulations.

Really there is room for discussion about
the domestic cat' because its history is a
curious one, writes hopert Blight in the N.
Y. Post. The animal belongs to that genus
FEELS whlch supplies the most terrible and
feroclous Oh ai'lihals. The members of the
genus are distributed ovor the whole of the
OLD Worio anu new world, except Madagas-
car and Australia. The immediate rela-
tives OF the domestic cat in the old world
are the lion, the tiger. the leonard or pam
Their, the ounce, the serval. and the many
smaller animals called tiger-cats and wild
cats. In the new world the house pet,
claims kindred with the puma. or cougar.
or panther of the United States. the iaguar,
the ocelot. and the pampas cat. What is
called the American wild cat is nft really a
cat, but lynx.
To which of the existing wild felidae
shall we ascribe the domestic CAT? Man in
the distant past must have taken a wild
animal and domesticated it, and ii ought to
be possible still 10 trace the ancestry
among the cats which roam at larpe. 1t
certainly connot be assigned to the wild
cat of Europe. The greater size and The
peculiar shape of the tail, which is of uni
form thickness in this species. render il i'm
possible, SO to speak, for 1t to be the. anees-
tor of the domestic cat. 1t was long
thought that the gloved cat of Nubia
which has been found mummified in Egypt-
ian tombs, was the forefather In size
and tapering tail it undoubtedly reminds
one of ou1 tame friend, but there are al
most insuperable difficulties in the arrange
ment of the teeth. 1t has been sugge st ed
that the form was arrived at by crossing
several species, but this is scarcely proba-
leb, for man would not perform the cross
ing, but would take some animal out of the
forest. The most probable solution is that
the domestic cat sprang from one of the
wild cats of India called felis chaus. In
the middle ages cats were very scarce, and
were highly priced in Europe, indicating !.
difficulty in procuring them, although the
wild cat was everywhere abundant. The
domestication must have taken place very
early in human hist Dry Monumental
figures and mummies are met with in the
relies Of ancient Egypt, and Sauscrit writ
ings of 1000 years ago record the connec-
ton between man and the cat
The animal is not one which exhibits a
strong tendency to variation and yet, al
though it has been under domestication
probably as long as the dog, not a tenth of
the number of varieties of dogs, which
reach 1889, exist among cats. This is p1 oba-
oily due to the nocturnal wandering habits
of the cat. Still there are some very
stronly marked varieties. We may mention
the tabby: the tortoise-shell, with its mixed
coloring of black, white. and yellow, found
only of the feminine gender; the chartreuse
of bluish-gray color; then Angora, with long
eli Nv hai, of incl
with .'scut'' Ikea rabbit, instead OF a
tail; the Madagascar. with twisted tail;
the Chinese, with dropping ears; and the
red-colored breed Of Tobolsk. OF all these
the gentlest aud most domestic is, the An
CORA, which comes not from Angora, but
from Ispaaan and the neighborhood of
Lake Van III Persia.
In Egypt, OF old. cats were sacred to Isis
the moon goddess-and were embalmed
with great care. Modern Egyptians may
look upon them with different eyes. but
they still value them, for in Cairo there
is well-endowed institution where home
less cats are cared for.
In the middle ages in Europe the cat was
associated with witchcraft, and one of the
weird sisters who ruled the fate of the age
was not complete without her black cat to
represent her master, or grimalkin- a gray
cat to represent the familiar spirit. .,
They were supposed to suck the breath of
children, and PARENTS to this day carefully
keep cats away from cradles. A black cat
approaching the bedside of sick person
was an unfailing sign of approaching
death.
Cats are supposed to be very tenacious
of life, and wonderful stories are extant of
their temperance when they have been
thought TO be etfectually disposed Of They
are said to have nine lives. but care is
| stated to be effectiye-"Care will kill cat,
says the proverb.
There is peculiar breed which is said to
be frequent in kite hens, but its natural
| history is as yet Uncertain. One striking
popularity is thai it breaks everything and
| eats e erything. for when the mistress of
the household finds things missing. she is
solemnly informed that the cat did it."
| In this country we do not look upon cats
as legitimate article of food. anymore
than they do in England. But, &C co1ding
| to Mr.. Samivel Weller, thss ara delicacy
largely depended on in the mutt on pie shops
CT London. and, according to the informa-
ton he impt rted to Mr. Pickwick. not only
| can mutton pies ba made out of cats. but
| yea-pies also-according to the season.
| Perhaps, however. this abstinence from
cat-aesh is only prejudice. MI Darwin is
| the authority for the following statement:
1T turned out to be puma what we were
eating); the meat is very white, AMI re-
| bly, like veal in taste. DIR. Shaw was
J laughed at for stating that the flesh of the
lion is in great esteem, having no small
affinity with veal both in color, taste, and
flavor Such certainly is the case with the
puma. The Guachos differ in their opin ion
whether the iaguar is good eating, but are
unanimous in saying that the cat is excel
| lent"
| A good deal of pleasure may be gotI out of
| observations on the habits of cats. Did
you ever watch them stalking their prey?
! Notice the grace, sy1nlnetry and silence OF
their motions. Take particular notice how,
when they begin the stalk, their tail lies
out straight behind, but that as the animal
approaches it begins to curl, and as the
spring is made it performs rapid move
ments.
The tastes of cats differ. One is good
pouser another hunts rats tbird will