284 BIRDS IN LONDON 



CHAPTEE XV 



THE CAT QUESTION 



The cat's unchangeable character A check on the sparrows 

 Number of sparrows in London What becomes of the 

 annual increase No natural check on the park sparrows 

 Cats in the parks Htory of a cat at Battersea Park Babbits 

 destroyed b} T cats in Hyde Park Number of cats in London 

 Ownerless cats Their miserable condition How cats are 

 made ownerless How this evil may be remedied How to 

 keep cats out of the parks. 



As it will be necessary to show that, sooner or 

 later, the cat question will have to be dealt with 

 in a manner not pleasant for the cats, it may be 

 well to say at once that I have no prejudice 

 against this creature ; on the contrary, of all the 

 lower animals that live with or near us I admire 

 him the most, because of his incorruptibility, his 

 strict adherence to the principle ' to thine own 

 self be true.' He lives with but not exactly in 

 subjection to us. The coarser but more plastic 

 dog we can and we do in a sense unmake and 

 remake. Not so with the cat, who keeps to the 



