[Illustration: THE LEOPARD.]
Other wild beasts--which are really great cats--are the beautifully spotted
Panthers or Leopards of Africa and Asia, the fierce and cunning Jaguar of
South America, and the Puma, sometimes called, without much reason for the
name, the American lion.
Wild cats were once common in England, and it has been thought that our
home-cats are their descendants, only tamed; but I believe this is not
true, and that our cats came from the East. It is generally thought that
they are not very affectionate animals, or rather that their affections are
set upon places more than upon people; but they are certainly very fond of
their own kittens, and very proud of them when they first begin to "walk
high," which I suppose answers to a baby's beginning to "run away."
Mr. Wood, in _The Boy's Own Book of Natural History_, tells a pretty story
about a baker's cat, which was so fond of him, when he was a young man at
college, that she used to come regularly morning and evening to have her
breakfast and tea with him. He says, "She continued her attentions for some
time, but one morning she was absent from her accustomed corner, nor did
she return till nearly a week had passed, when she came again, but always
seemed uneasy unless the door were open. A few days afterwards, she came
up as usual, and jumped on to my knee, at the same time putting a little
kitten into my hand. She refused to take it back again, so I restored it to
its brothers and sisters myself.
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