ANECDOTES ABOUT CATS 267 



" Times had been bad for man and beast in the pouring 

 rains, which had very much damped the autumn joys of 

 the Swiss tourists in the Valais. 



" Perhaps even cats found it hard to make an honest 

 living, but surely a daily ascent of 3185 metres for the 

 sake of a scanty lunch is to take life too seriously ; or is 

 it that in lordly contempt of the canine race, the animal 

 meant to emulate the St Bernards ? " 



The two following are taken from the same paper and 

 may interest some of my readers : 



" There is a gambling house in Queen's County that 

 has a cat different from the kind usually found in such 

 places ; it is about seven months old and spent nearly all 

 its life in the gaming establishment. 



" From its first day in the gambling saloon the kitten 

 showed great interest in the roulette wheel, the spinning 

 ball and the whirling disc had apparently great fascina- 

 tions, and it never tired of watching the game being 

 played. 



"While the croupier was whirling the ball, the 

 cat occupied a position behind the duprack, where 

 the ball could be watched, and the animal did not 

 lose sight of the ivory pellet for a moment. None 

 of the eager players watched it with more interest 

 or attention. When the roulette game doses and the 

 ball was placed in the little depression at the top 

 of the spindle the cat began to enjoy itself. He 

 knocked the ball off the pedestal, pulled it up to the 

 edge of the wheel and sent it spinning round the groove. 

 He gave the disc a whirl in the opposite direction and 



