CHAPTER XXIX 



ANECDOTES ABOUT CATS Continued 



A SINGULAR instance of the provident anticipations of 

 a cat expecting a family is thus given in the Library of 

 Entertaining Knowledge : 



" A short time before a cat produced kittens, she was 

 observed to hoard up several mice and young rats which 

 she did not quite kill, but lamed to prevent their escape. 



" One day after dinner, when our informant was sitting 

 with a friend, the cat bounced into the room in eager 

 chase of one of her maimed prisoners, a young rat, which 

 had, it appeared from the report of the servants, been 

 some days under surveillance in a back court. 



" The rat sprang up the window curtains for safety, but 

 being unable to retain its position there, was soon re- 

 captured and borne away by his conqueror." 



The taking away of her kittens should never be 

 done wholly or at one time, as it invariably causes 

 much suffering to the mother from the milk provided 

 by nature for the nourishment of the kittens. This 

 is no doubt the cause, or one of them, why cats are 

 sometimes found suckling young animals of quite a 

 different race to themselves. 



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