148 THE DOMESTIC CAT. 



last many minutes,, it furnishes a repast to its mer- 

 ciless victor. 



Cats are in general very sagacious animals, and 

 are also susceptible of considerable educational 

 attainments. They may be taught to dance in 

 cadence, and to perform many stra-nge but enter- 

 taining feats. Sonnini, as an instance, mentions, 

 that at one of the fairs at St. Germain, there was 

 a troop of Cats, which had been trained to cry out 

 in such a manner as to form a kind of burlesque 

 concert, at which a Monkey presided, who beat 

 time*. Cats, as well as Dogs, have sometimes 

 acquired the knowledge of opening a door by 

 lifting the latch ; and an instance occurred in 

 Lyons, a few years ago, of some murderers being 

 discovered by the recollection of a Cat, which 

 happened to have been in the room during the 

 horrid transaction f. 



The form of their teeth does not permit these 

 animals to seize their food in the incisors ; and 



* I have some doubt, however, whether M. Sonnini was not de- 

 ceived in the instance that he has thus adduced of the educational at- 

 tainments of Cats. I suspect the exhibition to have been altogether 

 a trick, and that the Cats only cried out at intervals, when the ma- 

 nagers of the exhibition contrived secretly to goad their bodies with 

 some sharp-pointed instruments. The account is related in the 

 " Addition a 1' Article du Chat, par Sonnini." Buf. Sonn. vol. 

 xxiv, p. 44. 



f See the anecdote in Animal Biography, third edition, vol. i. 

 p. 307. 



when 



