CAT AND HER KITTEN. m 



closely every movement of her young. With the utmost 

 solicitude she brings the choicest morsels of her own food, 

 which she lays before them, softly purring, while with gentle 

 and motherly ways she attracts them to the spot while she 

 sits or stands, looking on with evident satisfaction, full of 

 almost uncontrollable pleasure and delight, at their eager, 

 but often futile attempts and endeavours to eat and enjoy 

 the dainty morsel. Yet nothing is wasted, for after waiting 

 what appears to her a reasonable time, and giving them 

 every encouragement, and with the most exemplary patience, 

 she teaches them what they should do, and how, by slowly 

 making a meal of the residue herself, frequently stopping 

 and fondling and licking them in the hope they will yet 

 make another effort. What can be more sensitively touch- 

 ing than the following anecdote, sent to The Anitnal World 

 by C. E. N., in 1876? It is a little poem of every-day life, 

 full of deep feeling and feline love. 



" I have a small tabby cat, very comely and graceful. 

 Being very fond of her kitten, she is always uneasy if she 

 loses sight of it if only for a short time. For the last six 

 weeks, the mother, failing to recall the truant back by her 

 voice, even returns to the kitchen for the lower portion of a 

 rabbit's fore-leg, which has served as a plaything for some 

 time. With this in her mouth, she proceeds to search for 

 her lost one, crying all the time, and, putting it down at her 

 feet, repeats her entreaties, to which the kitten, allured by 

 the sight of its- plaything, generally responds. Owing to 

 its gambols in the open air during the inclement weather, 

 the kitten was seized with an affliction of the throat ; the 

 mother, puzzled with the prostration of its offspring, brought 

 down the rabbit's foot to attract attention. In vain ; the 

 kitten died. Even now the loving mother searches for the 

 rabbit's foot, and brings it down." 



An instance of the peculiar foresight and instinct, so 

 often observable in the cat, is related in The Animal World, 

 October, 1882. Miss M. writes: "This house is very old, 

 and big impudent rats often appear in the shop, so a cat 

 is always kept on the premises. Pussy is about five 



