I do not know whether Mr. Annandale's reflections on domestic Icelandic cats are borne out in fact, but one thing's for sure: it takes the police to break up their parties.
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Neither cat nor dog (that is to say, wolf) is indigenous to the island, but the true Icelandic cat is peculiar. It is of a dark blue-grey, in which certain lights enable darker markings to be detected. The fur is very short and thick; the size is small, and the form is slight. Good specimens of the breed are now becoming scarce, as a great deal of intermixture has taken place with ships' cats and others imported into the islands. There are few cat-fanciers in Iceland, and the Icelandic cat will probably soon be extinct. I believe that it has become fashionable in France as a rarity; but, curiously enough—possibly as an indirect result of in-breeding—it is extremely delicate and rarely survives removal from Iceland for long. A specimen formerly in my possession could hardly be induced to take milk or cream when brought to Edinburgh, but fed almost entirely on fish. It was stolen almost immediately; so evidently it must have been considered to be of some value by experts in Scotland. . .
The Icelanders attribute the peculiar colour of their native cats to the fact that they prefer to breed out among volcanic rocks of a similar colour to themselves rather than in the houses, and that the kittens born under such conditions . . .are affected by maternal impressions.
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From Nelson Annandale, The Faroes and Iceland: studies in island life (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1905), pp. 166-7
1 comment:
Sounds like one of those legendary house-trashing parties. Catnip-fueled, no doubt.
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