414 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



case of the dog, been under the cumulative influence of 

 human agency in becoming further and further bent away 

 from its original and naturally imposed position of self- 

 reliance ; so that when now a severance takes place between 

 a cat and its human protectors, the animal, inheriting 

 unimpaired the transmitted experience of wild progenitors,, 

 knows very well how to take care of itself. 



Having made these general remarks, I shall now pass 

 on to quote a few instances showing the highest level of 

 intelligence to which cats attain. 



As to observation, Mrs. Hubbard tells me of a cat 

 which she possessed, and which was in the habit of 

 poaching young rabbits to ' eat privately in the seclusion 

 of a disused pigsty.' One day this cat caught a small black 

 rabbit, and instead of eating it, as she always did the 

 brown ones, brought it into the house unhurt, and laid it 

 at the feet of her mistress. ' She clearly recognised the 

 black rabbit as an unusual specimen, and apparently 

 thought it right to show it to her mistress.' Such was 

 ' not the only instance this cat showed of zoological dis- 

 crimination,' for on another occasion, 'having caught 

 another unusual animal — viz., a stoat — she also brought 

 this alive into the house for the purpose of exhibiting it.' 



Mr. A. Percy Smith informs me of a cat which he 

 possesses, and which, to test her intelligence, he used to 

 punish whenever her kittens misbehaved. Very soon this 

 had the effect of causing the cat herself to train the 

 kittens, for whenever they misbehaved ' she swore at them 

 and boxed their ears, until she taught the kittens to be 

 clean.' 



Mr. Blackman, writing from the London Institution,, 

 tells me of a cat which he has, and which without 

 tuition began to ' beg ' for food, in imitation of a terrier 

 in the same house whose begging gesture it must have 

 observed to be successful in the obtaining of tit-bits. 

 The cat, however, would never beg unless it was 

 hungry ;— 



And no coaxing could persuade it to do so unless it felt so 

 inclined. The same cat also, whenever it wanted to go out, would 

 come into the sitting-room, and make a peculiar noise to attract 



