"Now, sometimes it is so dark that the cat herself can"t see. She has to feel her way. How do you think she does this, Norah?" Norah was puzzled.
"Look," said Fred, "at that bare patch on each side of the cat"s mouth. Her long stiff whiskers grow out from those patches. The cat feels her way along with the ends of these whiskers.
"Now, little girl," he went on, "we are going to look at the cat"s feet. The front paws have five toes, the hind ones have four. she walks on her toes, not on her whole foot, as we do.
"Look on the under side of the paws and you will see that they all have soft smooth pads. The cat walks on these pads.""Oh, I see," said Norah. "if the cat made a noise with her feet the mice would hear her and run away. So she has pads to walk on.""Teacher pointed out to us," said Fred, "the loose, springy body, with its soft coat of fur, almost like velvet. All thisis to help the cat to move quickly, and at the same time softly and quietly. She treads very lightly and softly.
"Now, one more look at her feet.
If we took the cat up when she was
angry, we should see that each toe is armed with a strong, curved, pointed claw.
