TJie Book of Cats. 1 23 



monkey, placed upon the fire a cocoa nut, and 

 then hid himself, to see how the monkey would 

 take it from the fire without burning his paws. 

 The cunning creature looked about, and seeing a 

 Cat by the fireside, held her head in his mouth, and 

 with her paws took off the nut, which he then threw 

 into water to cool, and ate it. 



Cats have always been famous for the wonder- 

 ful manner in which they have found their way 

 back to their old home, when they have been taken 

 from it, and for this reason alone, have often been 

 accused of loving only the house and not its inmates. 

 It is more probable though, I should think, that the 

 animal returns to the place because its associations 

 there have been happy, and, in the confusion and 

 strangeness of the new house, it cannot comprehend 

 that its old friends have come with it. For instance, 

 I have known a Cat when taken away from a house, 

 return to it, and going from room to room, mew 

 pitifully, in search of the former inmates. When 

 taken away a second time, the new place having 

 in the meantime been set straight, it found nothing 

 to frighten it there, and returned no more to its old 

 house. 



I knew a person who was in the habit of moving 

 about a great deal, and hiring furnished houses, who 



