CAPTURING WILD ANIMALS 205 



was one about a little outcast boy, who 

 lived in the woods like a wild creature and cap- 

 tured live things with his naked hands. This fas- 

 cinated me and appealed so strongly to my imagina- 

 tion, that I spent many hours in brooding and 

 studying over plans by which I might be able to 

 capture wild animals without the aid of guns or 

 traps. It occurred to me that our cat might give 

 a hint, for 



TABBY WAS A VERY SUCCESSFUL HUNTER. 



Tabby was only a cat, she was not very big, she 

 had no hands, and not much sense. I was a boy, 

 a human being, I had a pair of very useful hands 

 and brains enough to hold my place with the other 

 boys in my classes at school, consequently it seemed 

 reasonable that anything a cat could do I should 

 be able to accomplish. So I spent hours and days 

 lying prone on the grass with my chin in my hands 

 watching to see how puss captured such wary things 

 as birds, squirrels and rabbits. The first thing that 

 I noticed was that the cat seldom or never moved 

 when the object of her pursuit was looking at her, 

 but took every advantage of inattention on the part 

 of the game to shyly creep nearer and nearer until 

 she was within reach, then abandoning all efforts 

 at concealment she would spring boldly upon her 

 prey. For weeks I practised the cat's tactics to 

 see how closely I could approach the robins, blue 

 birds, cat-birds, rabbits and other small creatures 

 without alarming them, and to my great delight I 



