The Mason-bees 



that, in successful cases, the Cats made to 

 lose their bearings were young and unemanci- 

 pated animals. With those neophytes, a drop 

 of milk is enough to dispel the grief of exile. 

 They do not return home, whether they have 

 been whirled in a bag or not. People have 

 thought it as well to subject them to the whirl- 

 ing operation by way of an additional precau- 

 tion; and the method has received the credit 

 of a success that has nothing to do with it. 

 In order to test the method properly, it should 

 have been tried on a full-grown Cat, a genu- 

 ine Tom. 



I did in the end get the evidence which I 

 wanted on this point. Intelligent and trust- 

 worthy people, not given to jumping to con- 

 clusions, have told me that they have tried 

 the trick of the swinging bag to keep Cats 

 from returning to their homes. None of them 

 succeeded when the animal was full-grown. 

 Though carried to a great distance, into an- 

 other house, and subjected to a conscientious 

 series of revolutions, the Cat always came 

 back. I have in mind, more particularly a 

 destroyer of the Gold-fish in a fountain, who, 

 when transported from Serignan to Piolenc, 

 according to the time-honoured method, re- 



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