CATS. 



94 



CATS. 



of Fig. I. What with the slanting top and 

 the " wire entanglement," to use a military 

 epithet, into which his legs must be plunged 

 to the whole length at every step that he 

 takes, advance along a wall thus protected 

 would be utterly impossible. Another plan 

 that greatly perplexes poor pussy is to erect 

 broad uprights of wood or iron from end to 

 end of the wall at 

 suitable intervals, and 

 to strain wires along 

 them so as to form a 

 serried fencing. When 

 an arrangement of 

 iron uprights and 

 wires is formed simi- 

 lar to that shown in 

 Fig 2, the wires being 

 placed about ij inch 

 or even 2 inches apart, 



FIG. 2. WIRE OBSTACLE , th { 



ON TOP OF WALL. 



nal uprights being op- 

 posite to each other, and those in the centre 

 upright just midway between these, a wire 

 obstacle will be formed of such a kind that 

 no cat will be able or willing to force its 

 way through it. Of course there are other 

 means of arranging the wires, but these will 

 readily suggest themselves to an ingenious 

 and inventive mind according to the situa- 

 tion. 



Cat Teasers of Nails. 



An effective finish is sometimes imparted 

 to park palings by nailing a strip of wood, 

 bevelled on each upper edge, along the top 

 of the paling, nails about three inches long 

 having been previously put through the 

 strip, point uppermost, at the distance of 

 i inch apart. Such a finish is attended 

 with discomfort to those who attempt to 

 climb over it, especially if the nails be sharp, 

 as they ought to be ; but, like the Spartan 

 boy, who preserved an unmoved counten- 

 ance while a stolen fox, concealed under 

 his robe, was using both teeth and claws to 



the best advantage, the English boy will 

 endure a great deal in the way of a punc- 

 tured skin without showing it. If depreda- 

 tors in human form will trespass over the 

 garden wall, the best cure is to smear the 

 top of it liberally with a mixture of red 

 ochre and grease, which not only spoils their 

 clothes but inevitably leads to their detec- 

 tion if they continue to wear in public the 

 clothes which are thus indelibly marked, 

 for the stain is ineradicable. But let us see 

 how the principle of the bayonet finish to 

 the park palings can be applied to the case 

 of the cat. We must touch his feet again, 

 and make any place that he is accustomed 

 to climb over as uncomfortable to him as 

 possible indeed, 

 so uncomfortable 

 as to make him 

 reluctant to try 

 the same road 

 again. Cats will 

 run up a fence, or 

 the side of a glass 

 house, or any 

 building that is 

 not too high, and 

 pull themselves on 

 to the roof by 

 placing their feet on the edge before 

 hoisting themselves up. Supposing, for 

 example, we have a wooden paling on the 

 edge of a greenhouse on which cats are in 

 the habit of climbing, and we wish to stop 

 them from doing so, the best thing is to 

 take a single strip of wood, or two strips if 

 the wood coping of the pailing slope on both 

 sides, and cut it to suit the width of the 

 coping or edge. The wood should be from 

 | inch to | inch thick, and as free from 

 knots as possible. Plane the wood up on 

 both sides, and then draw diagonal lines 

 all over one side of it, the bottom in fact, 

 as shown by the dotted lines in the accom- 

 panying illustration ; then at every crossing 

 insert a i-inch rivet of the kind used by 



CAT TEASER OF NAILS. 



