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THE CAT.
commonly met with, of entire colour, as the brown tabbies, but are more plentiful than either the red or the blue. This colour is probably never met with in any of the wild cats, and would, I am inclined to think, be rare in the domestic races but for a prevailing superstitious notion, to be met with even in our enlightened age, that in some way good fortune or luck attends the homestead where a black cat dwells. And, moreover, that to destroy a black cat, or even a black kitten, from the purest motive, is an act likely to be followed by some misfortune. May I be allowed to endeavour to dispel this notion from the mind of any reader who may cherish a vestige of belief in the old charms of witchcraft, by boldly assert-
