Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson LXIV · Topic 8: Domestic animals
64. The cat
Goal: Your child can describe how a cat's paws, eyes, whiskers and teeth fit it for hunting by springing from hiding, and read a cat's moods from its voice and tail.
You'll need
- A calm, friendly cat (your own or a neighbor's)
- A bit of string or a feather toy
- A dim room and a bright window (for the pupils)
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
What's in the book
Comstock's story of the cat, which begins with the family cat that tried to mother her as a baby, then tells how cats hunt, see, wash and raise kittens. Then Lesson LXIV: the leading thought, a method for young and older children, fourteen groups of questions, and a list of story topics about wild cats.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Any season, any day, with a cat at home or a neighbor's. Comstock's method for young children is to give "a few questions at a time" and let them watch their own kitten.
Gentle with the cat
Let the cat come to you. Watch rather than hold: don't pull the paws to see the claws or open the mouth to see the teeth. Wait for a stretch, a scratch or a yawn instead. Wash hands after play, and wash any scratch with soap and water.
Keep the big idea in mind
Comstock's "leading thought" is the one idea the lesson is meant to lead to. Read it to yourself now, and save it to share at the end, after your child has looked and answered:
The cat was made a domestic animal before man wrote histories. It gets prey by springing from ambush and is fitted by form of body and teeth to do this. It naturally hunts at night and has eyes fitted to see in the dark.
Cat talk
How much of Pussy's language do you understand? What does she say when she wishes you to open the door for her? How does she ask for something to eat?
When she carries her tail straight up in the air is she in a pleasant mood? When her tail "bristles up" how does she feel? What is it a sign of, when she lashes her tail back and forth?
The hunter at play
Drag the string slowly past the cat and watch her crouch and pounce.
Describe how she lies in ambush. How does she hold the mouse as she pounces upon it?
Which walks the more silently, a dog or a cat? Why? Describe the cat's foot, including the toe-pads.
Eyes and whiskers
Look at the cat's eyes near the bright window, then in the dim room.
What is the shape of the pupil in daylight? In the dark?
How many whiskers has she? How long are they? What is their use?
Washing up
Describe how the cat washes her face. How does she clean her fur? How does her rough tongue help in this?
Then ask your child to tell you why a cat is built for hiding and pouncing, and read the leading thought aloud.
Nature notebook
Draw the cat's eye twice: once with a narrow slit pupil (bright light) and once with a round, wide pupil (dark). Add a sketch of the cat crouched to pounce, and the date.
Afterwards
Older children can take one of Comstock's story topics from question 14 (the lion, the tiger, the lynx, the history of house cats) and write a page about it.
Tip
What we know now: Comstock asks how cats should be trained not to touch birds. Pet cats that roam outdoors catch a great many wild birds, so many families now keep cats indoors or let them out only in a screened space.