. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. 01 NATURAL HISTORY. side to side. This habit is common to many other animals, for mstance, to the Puma, when prepared to spring; but it is not common to Dogs or to ; Under ordinary circumstances, when neither attacking a foe nor caressing a friend, the Cat is tlie very image of lazy content. As she sits by the fire, softly purring, and occasionally licking her paws and rubbing them over her face, she seems an embodiment of repose, an incarnation of otiwni mm dignitate, a- standing discoiu-se on the advisability of " Holding
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. 01 NATURAL HISTORY. side to side. This habit is common to many other animals, for mstance, to the Puma, when prepared to spring; but it is not common to Dogs or to ; Under ordinary circumstances, when neither attacking a foe nor caressing a friend, the Cat is tlie very image of lazy content. As she sits by the fire, softly purring, and occasionally licking her paws and rubbing them over her face, she seems an embodiment of repose, an incarnation of otiwni mm dignitate, a- standing discoiu-se on the advisability of " Holding- it ever the wisest thing To drive dull care ; But notwithstanding its usual indolence, the Cat, like all its congeners, is capable of very violent action upon occasions. This is more especially the case with kittens, who are, perhaps, the. delightful of all young animals : the most elegant, the most active, the most restless, the most overboiling with life and spirits. Who has not watched a kitten play i No matter what its toy may be ; it is content with anything movable—a ball, a piece of string, a lady's dress, the fallen leaves in lihe garden—anything and everything .she will play with, and as she plays, " gi-ace is in all her ; every movement of her head, every pat of her velvet paw, every whisk of her little tail, is elegance ifiself. Even in the old Cat this wonderful power of executing the most rapid movements with almost the quickness of thought is rather in abeyance than actually absent; she can stUl iiin, leap to many times her own height, climb a tree or a vertical wall by means of her sharp claws, and perform other njarvellous gymnastic feats impossible to anything else but a Squiri'el or a Monkey. Thfi sense which of all others is most deficient in the Cat is that of smell. In this she diffei-s most markedly from the Dog. It is said that a ]iie<?o of meat may be placed in close proximity to a Cat, but that, if it is kept cov
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