THE DOMESTIC CAT. 25? 



A Mr. Clarke who resided at East Bergholt, in Suffolk, 

 about the year 1815, had a white torn cat, which would fre- 

 quently go to an adjoining meadow where there were abundance 

 of rabbits, and bring some of them away, even those which 

 were more than half grown ; and, without hurting them, would 

 take them into the house, lay them at the feet of any of the 

 inmates, and retire to the door to prevent the escape of his 

 captives. 



The love of cats for the flesh of small birds is frequently 

 manifested by their attacks upon caged canaries, and other 

 favourite songsters j and also by their climbing trees to procure 

 our wild birds, or their young ones. Mr. Blyth says, that a 

 cat, at the Castle Inn, Tooting, was in the constant habit, 

 whenever the poultry were fed, of crouching herself in the 

 midst of the fowls, whilst they were all collected together 

 round their food; and that by this artifice she frequently 

 contrived to seize some unfortunate sparrow, who, descending 

 for his share of the grain, little suspected his ready foe to be 

 lurking in such a strange hiding-place. The enmity of the 

 cat against birds has been turned to useful account in pro- 

 tecting fruit from their ravages. At the Horticultural Society's 

 Meeting, November 6, 1832, it was stated that Mr. Robert 

 Brook, of Melton Lodge, near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, had 

 four or five cats, each with a collar, and light chain and 

 swivel, about a yard long, with a large iron ring at the end. 

 As soon as the gooseberries, currants, and raspberries began 

 to ripen, a small stake was driven into the ground, or bed, near 

 the plants, leaving about a yard and a half of the stake above 

 ground ; the ring was slipped over the head of the stake, and 

 with the cat thus tethered near the fruit, no birds would approach 

 them. Cherry trees and wall-fruit trees were protected in the 

 same manner as they successively ripened. Each cat, by way 

 of a shed, had one of the largest-sized flower-pots laid on its 

 side, within reach of her chain, with a little hay or straw in 

 bad weather, and her food and water were placed near her. In 

 confirmation of the above it may be added, that a wall of vines 



