a Lynx made an attempt of this sort upon a fold; he had just got his head in sight, when an old goat very deliberately marched up and butted him to death in his burrow.

I think this a well merited reception for all housebreakers, whether they bear the name of Lynx or not.

THIS animal is slender in his form, and he is one of the most beautiful of the cat family: his general colour is fawn with stripes, the edges of which are black, the centre being a deeper fawn than the body. He feeds on birds, rabbits, and other small animals.

He is found in South America; like most of his tribe, he has been represented as untamable; but recent facts have proved, that he may be rendered in a considerable degree gentle and docile.

THE Wild Cat is in form like the domestic cat; in size it is somewhat larger. It is of a grayish colour, diversified with dusky stripes; its fur is long, and gives the animal an appearance of considerably greater magnitude than the domestic cat.

Wild Cats live in hollow trees, in the fissures of rocks, and in the cavities of precipices, from which they steal forth usually in the night, in search of prey. They live on birds and small animals.

and, if wounded, turn Their howl in the forest

They are fierce and formidable; on their assailant with great fury. at night has a peculiarly startling and thrilling effect. The low melancholy wail of the Wild Cat seems to impress upon the traveller in the wilderness a sense of solitude and desolation, which is never forgotten when it has once been experienced.

The Wild Cat is a native of Britain, and is sometimes called the British Tiger. It is still found in that country, and is the only formidable beast of prey which is left in the British islands. The Wild Cat of North America differs from this in having a short tail curled backward.

THE Domestic Cat is so common that I need not describe

its appearance. It is a variety of the Wild Cat, rendered docile by domestication; and is found in almost all countries.

The Cat is assiduous to please, but is sly, distrustful, and treacherous. She will take advantage of your inattention to steal your breakfast: and if by chance you tread on the tail of one that has been the favourite for years, she will turn on you with teeth and claws, and retaliate the accident with the fiercest spite. Their affection is only apparent; they are not attached to persons, but to places. They do not easily exchange their residence, but they forget their old friends and form a new attachment, in cases where one family leaves a house and another enters it, with great facility.

CURIOUS PARTICULARS.

Notwithstanding these unamiable traits, her grace, beauty, softness, and insinuating manners, make Puss a general favourite, particularly with ladies. If Peter Parley had any friends among them, he would whisper in their ear, not as reproach, but as warning, that Puss resembles some of their

other favourites, possessing more grace of manner than sincerity of heart. I hope none of my readers will learn to value beauty and accomplishments more than truth and virtue, because some people attach superior importance to them.

Every person is acquainted with the playfulness of kittens. Nothing is indeed more amusing than their happy gambols. Alas! that they should ever cease to be kittens, and get to be old Cats; that they should lose their gentleness and vivacity, and become grave, cunning, selfish, long-faced prowlers, going about seeeking what poor rat they may devour!

Yet, to do Puss justice, we could not well do without her. But for her our houses would be overrun with rats and mice, and our very food would be stolen and carried away by these greedy creatures.

One of the most remarkable properties of a Domestic Cat is the anxiety with which it makes itself acquainted, not only with every part of its usual habitation, but with the dimensions and external qualities of every object by which it is surrounded. Cats do not very readily adapt themselves to a change of houses; but we have watched the process by which one, whose attachment to a family is considerable, reconciles itself to such a change.

He surveys every room in the house, from the garret to the cellar; if a door is shut, he waits till it be opened to complete the survey; he ascertains the relative size and position of every article of furniture: and when he has acquired this knowledge, he sits down contented with his new situation. It appears necessary to a Cat that he should be intimately acquainted with every circumstance of his position, in the same way that a general first examines the face of the country in which he is to conduct his operations. If a new piece of furniture, if even a large book or portfolio, is newly placed in a room which a Cat frequents, he walks round it, smells it, takes note of its size and appear

ance, and then never troubles himself further about the matter.

This is, probably, an instinctive quality; and the wild cat may, in the same way, take a survey of every tree, or stone, every gap in a brake, every path in a thicket, within the ordinary range of its operations. The whiskers of the Cat, as we have mentioned in the case of the lion, enable it to ascertain the space through which its body may pass, without the inconvenience of vainly attempting such a passage.

Cats may be taught to perform tricks, such as leaping over a stick, but they always do such feats unwillingly. There is an exhibition of Cats in Regent Street, London, where the animals at the bidding of their master, an Italian, turn a wheel, draw up a bucket, ring a bell, and in doing these things, begin, continue, and stop, as they are commanded. But the command of their keeper is always enforced with a threatening eye, and often with a severe blow; and the poor creatures exhibit the greatest reluctance to proceed with their unnatural employments. They have a subdued and piteous look; but the scratches upon their master's arms show that his task is not always an easy one.

One of the most remarkable peculiarities of the Domestic Cat is the property which its fur possesses of yielding electric sparks by rubbing. In frosty weather this is occasionally very extraordinary.

It is a very prevalent notion that Cats are fond of sucking the breath of infants, and consequently of producing disease and death. Upon the slightest reflection, nothing can be more obvious, than that it is impossible for Cats to suck an infant's breath, at least so as to do it any injury.

ANECDOTES.

It has been said that a Cat has the ability to charm or fascinate birds in such a manner, that they lose the ability to escape, and thus become an easy prey. This power is