Domestic Cats

       Cat, the name of the commonest of the household pet animals, is also applied to the family to which the cat belongs. This family includes the fiercest wild animals known, including the lion, tiger and panther. 

8 Fast Facts About House Cats:

1. It is believed that tho cat was originally domesticated in Egypt, where it was loved and venerated. The domestic cat belongs to a genus better armed for destruction of animal life.
2. Among the various breeds or races of cats, the tailless cat of the Isle of Man, and the Persian cat, with its long, silky fur, are among the most curious. 
3. The tortoise shell, with its color a mixture of black, white and brownish or fawn color, the large Angora and the blue, or Carthusian, and Maltese cats, with long, soft, grayish-blue fur, are other well-known species. 
4.  The short and powerful jaw, sharp, pointed teeth, sharp claws and strong muscles make it a fierce enemy of birds and other small animals.
5. Birds have no greater enemy, and one cat often drives the beautiful, friendly singing birds from a whole neighborhood. 
6. The cat is usually regarded as less intelligent than the dog, but possibly it has equal intelligence of another kind. 
7. It seems to have little real affection for mankind, though it enjoys being petted and shows signs of jealousy if neglected. 
8. It does become strongly attached to places, and it often will desert its friends who have removed, and return to the strangers who occupy its old home.

More About House Cats:

• Domestic cat information from big cat rescue
• Where do domestic cats come from?
• Craft a Cat Scratching Post for Your Dolls
• Color the things that are black, including a cat...
• The Naughty Kitten-Cat Poem
• Paint a peppermint striped kitty for the Christmas tree
• Raggedy Ann and The Kittens
• Color-by-number: Beware of Cat

Pole Cat

A pole cat is a small animal .of the weasel family. The common polecat is found in most parts of Europe, except the extreme south. It is about seventeen inches long, with long, coarse brown fur, which grows blackish on the feet and tail. A superior kind of artists' brush is made from the hairs. The polecat possesses an odor something like that of the American skunk, and hence in the United States the skunk is often called the polecat. It is very destructive to poultry, rabbits, rats and mice, and also feeds on snakes, frogs, fish and eggs.

• What is a polecat?
• Discover Wildlife: European polecat guide

Pointer

A pointer is a hunting dog, so called because it stops short at the sight of game and points toward it with its nose. It has a smooth coat of short hair, and is marked, usually black and white, like the fox hound. The tail is slender and stiff; the ears, large and drooping. The dogs have a very keen sense of smell and are unerring in locating game.

• Loyal, Hardworking, Even-Tempered
• The Cutest German Shorthaired Pointer Puppies

Centipede

       The centipede is a creature which has many feet and a body consisting of numerous similar rings or segments, each of which bears a pair of legs. The common centipede, found in the United States, is quite harmless, but some species of tropical countries inflict severe and often dangerous bites. Some of the latter species grow to a length of eighteen inches. They are savage animals and defend themselves energetically. The name means having a hundred feet, but in reality no species known has more than thirty-one pairs of legs.

Nothing says "Nope, Nope, Nope" like a Centipede!

Billy Basso Bull Frog

Billy Basso
Bull Frog
by Florence M. Pettee

Billy Basso Bullfrog
A-rumbling in the dark,
A-tuning up his viol,
While all the swamp fold hark.

With a pinky and a panky,
And a ga-lum, ga-lum, ga-LUM!
Billy Basso's found his fiddle,
While all the frog folks hum.

With a pinky and a panky,
All the swamp's a lullaby,
With the big bass viol strumming
'Way down where the tadpoles lie.

How Mother Nature Cleans

How Mother Nature Cleans
by Oscar H. Roesner

When Mother Nature cleans the sky
And makes it shiny blue,
So all the stars may twinkle bright,
The sun and moon shine through;
She sprinkles it with showers first,
Next scours with whitest snow,
And then with rough old wind for broom
She sweeps it clean you know.

Grandmother's Garden

 

Grandmother's Garden
by Marjorie Barrows

Amaryllis and I heard a fairy
In grandmother's garden today,
When the wind in the roses was calling
The birds and the blossoms to play.

Amaryllis stooped down by bluebell
And listened there ever so hard;
But I, in my little white apron,
Caught the rose-fairy's calling card!