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“How snug and cosy puss looks in front of the fire, mother.” The children had just been out for a run, and it was Norah who spoke. “What a quiet, gentle pussy it is,” she went on.
“Ah,” said her mother, “she wouldn’t be very quiet or very gentle if a mouse were to run out of its hole.”
“No,” said Willie; “I saw her catch a bird in the garden today. She was fierce and angry then. She tore it to pieces and ate it, after she had killed it.”
“What makes her so cruel sometimes?” asked Norah. “Can’t we teach her better, mother?”
“No,” said Fred, “we can’t; she kills and eats other animals because she was made for it, and meant for it. We had a fine lesson at school about the cat today. I’ll tell you all I can about it. Shall I, Norah?”
“Do, please,” said his sister.
“Then take puss on your lap, Norah, and we’ll begin,” said he. “First look at her eyes. Now look into my eyes. You see that round black spot in the middle of my eye. That is the pupil of the eye. Light enters the eye through the pupil. The pupil of pussy’s eye is not like ours. In the bright light, it is a long narrow slit; when it is dark, the pupil opens into a very wide round window.”
“I suppose,” said Norah, “that is to help her to see when it is dark.”
“It is,” said Fred. “She wants to see well then, for the mice come out of their holes at night. Look at her now while she is stretching herself. What a wide mouth she has, and what long sharp teeth. Four of the teeth, two in each jaw, are much larger and stronger than the rest. Teacher says they are meant for seizing and tearing the mice and birds.
“We move our jaw from side to side, as well as up and down, when we chew our food. The cat’s jaw cannot move sideways; it moves only up and down. Her jaws as well as her teeth are meant for cutting, not for chewing.”
“I wonder whether pussy will let us look at her tongue. Try and open her mouth, Will.” But puss began to growl and look so savage that they had to give it up.
“Well,” said Fred, “teacher tells us that even the tongue is meant to help the cat in her flesh-eating. It is not smooth, like our tongue. It is set with small, sharp, horny points which stretch backwards. The cat uses her rough tongue to strip the flesh from the bones.”
Return to Elementary Science I
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