34 THE CAT ABOUT TOWN 



character, are losing their dislike of water and wet, and 

 prefer to be out in the rain. We rather doubt these 

 conclusions, and believe that if the London cat differs 

 at all from his country cousin, it is in selecting different 

 hours for his sport and amusements. The country cat 

 is more or less lively all day, and hunts regularly in the 

 evening. The London cat is sleepy and quiet all day, 

 because circumstances make him a very early riser, or, 

 at any rate, prevent him having his morning sleep. The 

 explanation of the languor and ennui of the London cat 

 is to be found in the fact that long before he appears at 

 the breakfast-table, with a jaded appetite and a general 

 air of aloofness from the world and its pleasures, he has 

 had a long morning's sport, often in delightful society, 

 and then breakfasted comfortably in the kitchen. The 

 scenes of these early-morning hunts are various, and 

 the hour during half the year is one before even the 

 earliest of early risers are about. In winter the London 

 cats often seek their sport under cover. In one district 

 near a very large and famous brewery the sporting cats 

 go regularly as soon as the brewery gates are open to 

 hunt rats in the brewery ' stores.' This is capital fun, 

 as there are hundreds of barrels, either stored or * work- 

 ing,' with little patches of yeasty froth oozing from the 

 bungholes and plenty of dropped corn and ' grains ' in 

 the neighbourhood to attract all the rats from else- 

 where. Under and among these barrels they may be 



