PLAY TO YOUR PETS

Southland Times, Issue 23444, 26 February 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

PLAY TO YOUR PETS

Have you ever tried playing to your pets. Most animals are fond of music, and what fun you can have amusing your tame white mice, or your old friend Bruno. Don t leave out the cat, either, for he has a musical ear, as the following little facts will show you :

Cats like music. Once there was a famous composer called Scarlatti, whose cat always watched him at work. One day she jumped on to the keyboard, and to his amazement did not do this just aimlessly, hut selected certain notes in preference to others. Scarlatti wrote down those notes, and today that tune lives, and is named “The Cat Fugue”

Rats, mice, and dogs like music, too. Once there was a man who invented a special mousetrap with a music-box attached to it, and the music drew the mice into the trap two or three at a time. It seems rather a cruel way to catch those mischievous little mice, but it certainly acted. They did like music

Elephants and camels are very fond of music, but many of the wild animals, such as wolves and jackals do not like it. Spiders, surprisingly enough, like music, and monkeys tave been trained to play instruments. Snakes love music, and if one came into your room you would be perfectly safe as long as you had the courage to keep on playing to the reptile