THE CAT QUESTION i^93 



sheldrakes is felt to be a serious one, and I 

 agree that when unpinioned the bird is very 

 beautiful, and when it shows itself flying over 

 the ornamental waters of a park, I can admire 

 it almost as much as when seeing it on the 

 coasts of Somerset or Northumberland. But 

 a blackcap, a nightingale, a kingfisher destroyed 

 by cats in any park would be as great or even a 

 greater loss to London ; and I may add that a 

 few days before writing this chapter, in the 

 summer of 1897, the three wild birds I have 

 just named were to be seen at the very spot 

 where the sheldrakes were killed. 



So far as I know, the park cats can only be 

 credited with one good deed. Two or three 

 years ago a number of rabbits were introduced 

 into Hyde Park, and quickly began to increase 

 and multiply, as rabbits wilL For a time the 

 cats respected them, being unaccustomed to see 

 such animals, and possibly thinking that they 

 would be dangerous to tackle. But they soon 

 found out that these strangers were the natural 

 prey of a carnivore, and, beginning with the 

 little ones, then going on to those that were 

 grown up, eventually devoured them all. • Two 

 big old buck rabbits survived the others for a 



