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affections. The Pretty Lady was contented wherever I, her most 

 humble slave, went with her."' Many a puss has been known to 

 be "contented" in the company of her "humble slave" and if 

 such an attitude does not win the affections of a cat nothing will. 

 There are many stories of cats which have refused food and died 

 after the death of some human friend or benefactor, and such 

 cats are always said to have died of grief, but, so far as I know, 

 no post-mortem examination has been held in any such case to 

 determine whether or not the cat died of disease. 



It is well known that the female cat, like the females of other 

 mammals manifests maternal affection, and that the male often 

 murders his own offspring. It is well attested also that females 

 when deprived of their young have been known to adopt those of 

 other animals, and to suckle squirrels, rats, leverets, puppies, 

 skunks, hedgehogs, and even to adopt young chickens, squabs 

 and bobwhites. In the cases of mammals thus adopted the suck- 

 lings probably relieved the maternal fount and 

 so gratified the cat, but the mothering of 

 birds seems to be entirely altruistic. Cats 

 like other animals have shown at times some 

 evidence of attachment to domestic animals 

 and even to birds, but such evidences of 

 affection are exceptional. Aside from such individual excep- 

 tions it seems to be accepted by the authorities as a fact that 

 cats as a rule have a higher regard for the home than for its 

 inmates. Shaler explains this in the following manner: — 



The differences as regards affection for localities which are shown by 

 cats and dogs are perhaps to be accounted for by an original and essential 

 variation in the habits of life in their mid ancestors. Judging by the kindred 

 of the species which are known to us in their wild state, we may fairly suppose 

 that the dogs were of old accustomed to range over a wide field, having no 

 fixed place of abode; the pack ranging, if the occasion served, over hundreds 

 of miles in any direction. On the other hand, with tiie cats, it is character- 

 istic of the species that they have their lairs to which they resort, and a 

 definite hunting ground on which they seek their food. They are, in a word, 

 animals of a very determined routine. As there has been no effort by 

 breeding to change this feature, it has remained in all its old ingrained 

 intensity. 



Most cats will return to their old home if possible rather than 

 remain with the family at a new dwelling place. It is this trait 

 of the cat's nature mainly that endangers the native wild life 

 of woods and fields, as will be shown hereinafter. 



> Wiiulow, Helen M : Concerning Cato, My Own and Some Others, 1900, p. 9. 



