ARE WILD CATS SCARCE? 203 



But while the fox is an extremely difficult animal 

 to trap (or, despite his conspicuousness, to see), 

 the cat is one of the easiest to capture if its 

 presence is suspected and an effort is made to 

 get it. Setting traps for a fox is almost a high 

 art. A single trap beside a bait Reynard is quite 

 sure to detect, no matter how skilfully it may be 

 concealed ; and if he is taken in this way at all it is 

 by means of a second or third trap, into which he 

 puts a paw after his abundant suspicions have 

 been lulled by his discovery of the other two. 

 The cat, on the other hand, will walk into a trap 

 if it is not in sight, and the same amount of art 

 that suffices for the capture of a rabbit will suffice 

 for the capture of the rabbit's great enemy. The 

 meaning of this great difference is, of course, 

 that the fox observes the world chiefly through his 

 nose, and uses his eyes as auxiliaries to that organ, 

 whereas the cat depends chiefly on its senses of 

 sight and hearing. And, as the instruments of 

 cunning, ears and eyes are not to be compared 

 with a thoroughly efficient organ of smell. 



