BEASTS OF PREY 25 



C. The Cat as a Zealous Destroyer of Vermin. 



As a killer of rats, mice, etc., the cat is unexcelled. The pursuit of 

 these is carried on specially at night, and it is astonishing what numbers 

 of these troublesome rodents a cat manages to destroy. It has been 

 shown that a cat just above half -grown can devour 20 mice a day, or 

 7,300 a year. Three thousand six hundred and fifty, or a corresponding 

 number of rats, is considered a moderate annual amount. Frequently, 

 indeed, the mere presence of a cat is sufficient to drive out the insolent 

 rodents ; for if they do not depart of their own free will, the cat manages 

 to get rid of them " in another way." It has, indeed, frequently been 

 noticed that a cat will kill far more mice than it can eat. When hard 

 pressed it will also consume grasshoppers, cockchafers, frogs, and snakes, 

 including the poisonous viper, and has even been known to kill rattle- 

 snakes. 



D. How the Structure of the Cat is adapted to a Predatory Life. 



Both by the acuteness of its senses, the form and structure of its 

 body, and its intellectual faculties the cat is eminently fitted for its 

 murderous vocation. All these faculties are well displayed from the 

 moment it catches sight of its prey, up to the seizing, tearing, and 

 swallowing of it. 



i. How the Cat becomes aware of its Prey. 



1. Snugly rolled up, so as to offer the least possible cooling surface, 

 we observe our cat lying asleep by the warm hearth. Suddenly it rises, 

 and, with its belly almost brushing the ground, creeps towards some 

 cupboard, press, or the like in a corner. Here it stands watching 

 immovably still, and frequently, before even a few minutes have passed, 

 will be found with a mouse struggling within its paws. Thus, even while 

 asleep the cat must have heard the noise made by the mouse, which no 

 human observer could have detected ; it was able to discern the nature 

 of the noise (viz., that it proceeded from a mouse), and to form a correct 

 judgment of the direction and distance from which it proceeded. We 

 thus learn that the cat is possessed of an uncommonly fine sense of 

 hearing, as is further indicated by the movable muscles of the ear. 



2. The eyes are large and sharp-sighted. The cat is able, as a protec- 

 tion against a too brilliant light, to contract the pupils of the eye until 

 they form a narrow vertical slit. As it gets darker and fewer and fewer 

 light rays enter the eye, the pupil correspondingly dilates. In the dusk 

 it is almost circular. 



3. On perfectly dark nights or in very dark places cats can no more 



