The reason cats dart is revealed in this illustrarion from Phantastes: A Faerie Romance by George MacDonald (1894).

An illustration from Phantastes: A Faerie Romance by George MacDonald (1894).  The caption reads: "One of their number began to sing."

An illustration from Belle and the Dragon by Arthur Edward Waite (1894).

From Folk Songs edited by John Williamson Palmer, 1867.

Exquisite things are invariably surrounded by fairies.  From A Tramp Abroad Etc. by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1897).  The caption reads: "An exquisite thing."

An illustration from The Revelations of a Sprite by Auber Melville Jackson (1897).  The caption reads: "'Hum,' said the owl."

An illustration from an 1887 issue of Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours magazine.  The caption reads: "Twelve hundred Elfin knights and more were there in silk and steel arrayed."

"The Revel Under the Fairy Oak": an illustration from an 1885 issue of Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours magazine.

Pollen was once considered fairy gold.  "Did you ever wish with it?  Just touch your finger to the pollen, and then wish.  After you wish, blow hard twice to get the pollen off.  If it goes, your wish will come true, but if not, you will not have your wish" (E. M. J., "A March Ramble," Primary Education 1906).  Our illustration of the pollen fairy appears in Blossoms by the Way by Carrie Adelaide Cooke, 1882.

An illustration from Carrageen and Other Legends by K. M. Loudon (1892), drawn by Edith Scannell.  The caption reads: "And the snow fairies came and covered them both."

An illustration from Carrageen and Other Legends by K. M. Loudon (1892), drawn by Edith Scannell.  The caption reads: "In another moment they would have seen him."

Ice fairies from Punch, 1902.

An illustration from a 1906 issue of The Bystander magazine.  The caption reads: "And the damned grotesques danced arabesques."

The fairies who make words stick in your head.  An illustration from an 1890 issue of Punch magazine.

These cruel insects (butterfly fairies?) are killing a wasp in Punch, 1865.

"A natural enmity, attacking and tearing each other with the cruelty of insects." —Graphis: Volume 8 (1958)

"I thought you dead, or fairy bait."
—Jackie Ashton, The White Swans of Fal

This fairy on a hook appears in Punch, 1842.