Maine Coon Cats

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They've finally moved in on us.

by Linn Barnes

Their origins steeped in lore and legend, these largish cats have become the best-selling breed in the country.

I had been working for quite some time writing a new piece of music for harp-guitar and celtic harp and finally arrived at the most difficult part-finding a title. It was a straightforward piece with a strong dose of good old-fashioned country, or pastoralism, about it, so I wanted an expressive tide, something to stimulate the imagination.

In the early morning, I like to work facing due east, when the angle of the light begins to flood the crimson curtains and spill onto the pages of the musical score in front of me. There is a transparency and a calm at that time of day which I find enhances my ability to concentrate. At any rate, I was searching for a tide when one of our cats, Calliope, a Maine coon cat, sashayed across the table, sat down at the head of my manuscript and stared directly at me. I think it must have been the effect of the morning light sweeping through that giant plume of a tall, or the intensity of her multicolored coat, piercing green eyes and whiskers spanning what seemed to be half the table that finally gave me the clue I had been looking for. I named the piece The Consolations of Calliope.

Who are these enigmatic creatures, Maine coon cats? Until a few years ago, I hadn't the foggiest idea. After A, a cat's a cat, right? Of course not. Until you have witnessed one of these magnificent animals surveying its domain with unquestionable superiority, you haven't experienced the full range of power and control that one of the more discerning of our domestic species can exert. When it chooses to. Ask any Maine coon cat. It just might tell you.

Maine coon cats originated, obviously enough, in Maine. The name derives from their resemblance to raccoons: enormous tail, distinct markings and larger than average size. According to legend, they are descended from long-haired tabbies, barn and farm cats that went feral centuries ago, although in some quarters the myth persists that they sprang from the unholy (and quite impossible) union of raccoon and cat. Another theory has it that the original cats were the pets of sailors and somehow survived shipwrecks off the rocky Maine coast. In any event, once in the wild, natural selection shaped the progenitors of our modem specimen. The tenacious long hair and greater size certainly appear to be accommodations to the harsh New England winters and authentic perils of life in the wild. Since planned breedings of Maine coons are relatively recent, these cats still hold their strong, rugged qualities.