THE INTELLIGENCE OF CATS. 371 



pardons. They ate out of the same dish and slept on the same 

 mat. The dog took the cat under his protection, and was particu- 

 larly assiduous in defending his ward from a vicious black cat 

 that troubled it. A correspondent of the London Spectator wrote 

 concerning tomcat Blackie's interest in a dog who had been 

 blinded by a carter's whip and had been nursed by his master. 

 Observing that " Laddie " (the dog) had difficulty in finding his 

 way to the door, and sometimes struck his head against the posts* 

 she became accustomed to go for him when he was called and 

 guide him in. 



Wood gives, in his Natural History, an account of two cats 

 called the " Mincing Lane Cats," who lived in a wine-cellar, and, 

 one being old and the other young, appear to have agreed upon 

 an interchange of services. "Senior" taught "Junior" to avoid 

 men's feet and wine-casks in motion, and pointed out the best 

 hunting-grounds, while " Junior " employed his youthful activity 

 in catching mice for his patron. In consideration also of the mice, 

 Senior gave up to Junior a part of his share of the daily rations 

 of cat's meat. It is represented that the curious compact was 

 actually and seriously carried out. This had the air of a commer- 

 cial transaction, but another story told by Mr. Wood exhibits 

 pure benevolence. A cat in a Norman chateau had every day 

 more food than she could consume, and the waste of the surplus 

 " seemed to weigh on her mind." So one day she brought a less 

 well-fed cat from a roadside cottage, and, having satisfied herself, 

 gave it what was left. Her master, observing this, gave her larger 

 platefuls, when she brought in another cat from a greater dis- 

 tance. The master then determined to test how far the cat's 

 hospitality would extend, and kept adding to the platefuls from 

 time to time, as new cats were brought in, till Puss's dinner-party 

 included nearly twenty guests. "Yet, however ravenous were 

 these daily visitors, none of them touched a mouthful till their 

 hostess had finished her own dinner." * An Angora cat belonging 

 to M. Jumelin \ would often bring a poor, half -starved cat home 

 with him, and then would see that it was fed. On the last occa- 

 sion of his doing this, " Master Cat seemed nervous and excited, 

 and behaved as though he thought the case was urgent. He be- 

 came more quiet, however, as soon as the dish was set down for. 

 the strange cat, and contentedly observed what was going on 

 while the visitor was taking his meal. As soon as the dish was 

 emptied he showed his guest to the door, bade him good-by with 

 a friendly but lively stroke of his paw, and accompanied him 

 down the stairs, addressing him a succession of friendly mews." 



* Mr. Wood's informant had this story from the owner of the chateau. 

 4- Revue Scientifique. 



