CAT— GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 417 



Mr. James Hutchings writes in ' Nature ' (vol. xii., p. 

 330) an account of an old torn cat using a young bird, which 

 had fallen out of its nest, as a decoy for the old birds. 

 The cat touched the young bird with his paw when it 

 ceased to flutter and cry, in order that, by thus making it 

 display its terror, the old cock bird, which was all the 

 while flying about in great consternation, might be induced 

 to approach near enough to be caught. Many times the 

 <}ock bird did so, and the cat made numerous attempts to 

 •catch it, but without success. All the while a kitten had 

 to be kept from killing the young bird. As this scene 

 continued for a long time — in fact, till terminated by Mr. 

 Hutchings — and as there does not appear to have been 

 any opportunity for errors of observation, I think the case 

 worth recording. 



The following case is communicated to me by Mr. 

 James G-. Stevens, of St. Stephen, New Brunswick: — 



Looking out on the garden in front of my residence, I 

 observed a robin alight on a small tree : it was midwinter, the 

 ground covered with about a foot of light snow. A cat came 

 stealthily along, with difficulty making her way through the snow 

 until within about three feet of the tree where the bird was ; the 

 robin was sluggishly resting on a twig distant three feet from 

 the ground or surface of snow ; the cat could not well, owing to 

 the softness of the snow, venture to make a spring. She 

 crouched down and at first gently stnred herself, evidently with 

 the purpose of causing the bird to move. The first attempt 

 failed. She again more actively stnred herself by a shaking 

 motion. She again failed, when she stirred herself vigorously 

 again and started the bird, which flew about fifty feet ^way, and 

 alighted on a small low bush on the northern side of a close- 

 hoarded fence. The cat keenly watched the flight and the alight- 

 ing of the bird ; as quickly as she could cross through the snow, 

 she then took a circuit of about one hundred feet, watching 

 the place where the bird was all the while, and covering her 

 march by making available every bush to hide her. When out of 

 range of vision of the bird she more actively made for the fence, 

 leaped over it, came up on the southern side of it, and jumped 

 on it, calculating her distance so accurately that she came within 

 a foot of the bush where the bird was, and at once sprung. She 

 missed her prey, but I thought she proved herself a cunning 

 hunter. If this case is worth relating you may use the name 



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