THE CAT QUESTION 295 



probably show that the entire cat population 

 does not fall short of three-quarters of a niilHon ; 

 but I may be wide of the mark in this estimate, 

 and should prefer at present to say that there are 

 certainly not less than half a million cats in 

 London. Even this may seem an astonishino- 

 number, since it is not usual for any house to 

 have more than one, and in a good many 

 houses not one is kept. On the other hand there 

 is a vast population of ownerless cats. These 

 cannot well be called homeless since they all 

 attach themselves to some house, which the}^ 

 make their home, and to which they return as 

 regularly as any wild beast to its den or lair. 

 Judging solely from m}^ own observation, I do 

 not think that there can be less than from eighty 

 thousand to one hundred thousand of these 

 ownerless cats in the metropolis. Let me take 

 the case of the house I live in. No cat is 

 kept, yet from year's end to year's end there 

 are seldom less than three cats to make use 

 of it, or to make it their home. At all hours 

 of the day they are to be seen in the area, or 

 on the doorsteps, or somewhere near ; and at 

 odd times they go into the basement rooms — 

 thev D'et in at the windows, or at am' door that 



