288 The Book of Cats. 



ever, Is a plan by which, I think, you can generally 

 ascertain whether or not a Cat is of a thievish 

 disposition. Give the Cat a piece of meat an inch 

 square, and if he is a dishonest rascal, he will 

 not lay it down on the floor to pick it up again 

 as is the usual way with his species, but keep tight 

 hold of it with his teeth, and jerk it down his 

 tliroat, sometimes using his paws to prevent its 

 falling. 



There is one ridiculous accusation brought 

 against poor Pussy, which I have not yet referred 

 to, namely, that she is in the habit, when the 

 opportunity offers, of suffocating young babies by 

 sucking their breath. Now, since the world began, 

 I beg emphatically to state, no baby was ever so 

 suffocated, and I say this in the face of numerous 

 newspaper paragraphs, and a thousand old women's 

 stories : — 



For instance, the ^'Annual Register^' January 25, 

 1 79 1, says: — 



A child of eighteen months old, was found dead 

 near Plymouth ; and It appeared, on the coroner's 

 inquest, " that the child died In consequence of 

 a Cat sucking Its breath, thereby occasioning a 

 strangulation." 



My friend Mr. Burrows, surgeon, of Westbourne 



