THE INTELLIGENCE OF CATS. 379 



very uneasy one summer midnight and ran from one bedroom- 

 door to another with earnest mewing and crying. Having at- 

 tracted the attention of one of the family, she led the way, watch- 

 ing carefully to see that she was followed, down the stairs and 

 through the kitchen and cellar to the outside cellar-door, which 

 had been left open. A house between Belfast and Hollywood, 

 Ireland,* taking fire one night, the cat ran up-stairs to the servant- 

 maid's room and pawed her face. The girl, only half aroused, 

 turned to sleep again. After a few moments the cat returned and 

 scratched the girl's face till she woke in earnest, and now smell- 

 ing the smoke, aroused the rest of the family. The cat already 

 mentioned, that went and brought help to deliver the parrot from 

 miring in the dough, evidently realized the nature of the danger 

 the bird was in, and how it could be remedied. Mr. James K. 

 Gilmore's (Edmund Kirk's) cat, finding one night, when she came 

 home from her rambles, that the door leading to the veranda was 

 open, took pains to give notice of it to the family. The same ani- 

 mal, when the family were all in other parts of the house, ran up 

 to her mistress and demanded to be followed. She led the lady 

 directly to the kitchen, and there was a strange man who had 

 intruded himself into the vacant room. Mr. Gilmore relates 

 several other anecdotes of this cat, which show that she under- 

 stood the value of human help in emergencies particularly in cases 

 where her kittens were in trouble and upon whom to call. She 

 also understood that whatever demands she might make upon her 

 master in the daytime, his night's rest must not be disturbed. 

 At that time she always went to her mistress. 



A cat is told of in the Boston Post which was accustomed to 

 go in the summer with the family to the country. On the occa- 

 sion of one of the vacations she appeared anxious about her kit- 

 ten, and at last put it in one of the trunks. 



A cat and a starling belonging to Mr. Dupre", of Kensington, 

 England, were great friends and almost constant companions. 

 One day the cat suddenly pounced upon the starling, but, instead 

 of making an end of it, took it carefully up and set it upon a 

 table ; then rushed out of the room to chastise a strange cat which 

 had stolen into the house. The forethought it exhibited in securing 

 the safety of its friend before going into the fight seems to justify 

 our attributing to it the highest degree of intelligence which any 

 of the authors we have quoted are willing to accredit to animals. 



A cat of Mr. Brown, of Greenock, Scotland, having had some 

 paraffin accidentally spilled upon it and set ablaze by a cinder 

 from the fire, at once rushed out of the door and up the street for 

 about a hundred yards ; plunged headlong into the village water- 



* Nature. 



