15 



times brave, sometimes cowardly with dangerous antagonists, but 

 bold and courageous when brought to bay. 



Naturalists agree that the cat is a highly organized and in- 

 telligent animal. Mivart says that no more complete example 

 can be found of a perfectly organized living being. As compared 

 with the dog, its intelligence is rated lower, but is probably under- 

 rated. The older naturalists assume that nature has destined 

 animals of the genus Felis to subsist on the flesh of other animals. 

 For this purpose she has endowed them with an "insatiably 

 bloodthirsty disposition," and has furnished them with most 

 effective means of destruction. Their exceedingly great strength, 

 especially that of the jaw, their keen lacerating teeth, and strong, 

 retractile claws, sharp-edged and pointed, are terribly eflBcacious 

 in inflicting wounds, while their peculiarly flexible, agile bodies 

 enable them to spring with great force upon their victims. All 

 are regarded as exceedingly cruel, and the domestic cat as per- 

 haps the most cruel of all, because of its habit of tormenting its 

 prey. 



Cruelty of the Cat. 



Romanes says that the feelings which prompt a cat to torture 

 a captured mouse are apparently delight in torturing for tor- 

 ture's sake. So far as he has been able to discover, the only 

 other animals manifesting such feelings are man and the 

 monkeys. ^ This cruelty, however, is not peculiar to Felis domes- 

 tica; probably other small cats have similar habits. Foxes also 

 have been known to "play" with their prey. Moreover, such 

 habits cannot be considered blamable except in man, — the most 

 viciously and knowingly cruel of living crea- 

 tures. The cat evidently cannot realize as man 

 can the poignant pains and terrible sufferings 

 of its victims. Universally, the cat seems to 

 take delight in torturing its prey, but this 

 seems to be its means of developing the use 

 of its fore limbs, and it acquires a more perfect control over them 

 than is possessed by any other domestic animal. By continually 

 advancing and retreating, springing and striking, it develops the 

 skill that enables it to pounce upon and strike down birds, insects 

 and small mammals in flight, and to clutch its prey even in 

 darkness. All the play of the kitten tends toward these ends. 



> Romanes, G«orge J.: Animal Intelligence, 1S83, p. 413. 



