284 BIBDS IN LONDON 



CHAPTEE XV 



THE CAT QUESTION 



The cat's unchangeable character — A check on the sparrows — 

 Number of sparrows in London— What becomes of the 

 annual increase — No natural check on the park sparrows — 

 Cats in the parks — Story of a cat at Battersea Park — Rabbits 

 destroyed by cats in Hyde Park — Number of cats in London 

 — Ownerless cats — Their miserable condition — How cats are 

 made ownerless — How this evil may be remedied — How to 

 keep cats out of the parks. 



As it will be necessary to show that, sooner or 

 later, the cat question will have to be dealt with 

 in a manner not pleasant for the cats, it may be 

 well to say at once that I have no prejudice 

 against this creature ; on the contrary, of all the 

 lower animals that live with or near us I admire 

 him tlie most, because of his incorruptibilityj his 

 strict adherence to the principle ' to thine own 

 self be true.' He lives with but not exactly in 

 subjection to us. The coarser Ijut more plastic 

 dr)o- we can and we do in a sense unmake and 

 remake. Not so wiili the eat, wlio keeps to tlie 



