OF TO-DAY. 



quantities. In Vienna, cats are placed on mice. Now rarely one is nibbled, and every 

 active service in the municipal buildings. At morning dozens of lifeless bodies are cleared 



many of our great rail- 

 way stations there is a 

 feline staff engaged in 

 the various warehouses 

 and offices. The farmer 

 will readily admit the 

 usefulness of puss in 

 his barns, stables, out- 

 houses and fields 

 Farmers are notori 

 ous grumblers, but they 

 would have gr ater 

 cause for discontent 

 and disappointment if 

 rats and mice were al- 

 lowed to live and thrive, 

 and breed and multiply 

 on their premises. The 

 newly sown peas and 

 corn stacks would suffer 



MISS SAVERYS BLUE PERSIAN KITTEN. 

 (Photo: H Warschaiuski, Si Leonards-on-Sea.) 



away. Curiously 

 enough these dead mice 

 have their tails eaten 

 off, for apparently this 

 cat has a weakness for 

 the appendage, whereas, 

 usually the head is 

 considered the delicate 

 morsel amongst the fe- 

 line race. It seems that 

 although the cat is left 

 alone with all the flut- 

 tering birds at night, 

 she never has attempt- 

 ed to molest them in 

 any way. 



I lately had occa- 

 sion to visit one of our 

 London theatres during 

 the daytime, when it 



to a terrible extent, and the broods of ducklings was empty ; and observing a big brown cat 

 and chickens would speedily vanish if puss did walking about amongst the stalls, I made 

 not keep a vigilant eye and silently but surely some remark about him to the official who 



fulfil the duties of her 

 calling. 



In the live stock de- 

 partment of the Army 

 and Navy Stores in Lon- 

 don, an orange Persian 

 cat may be seen 

 strolling about 

 amongst the 

 cages of birds 

 of every sort. 

 The attendant 

 informed me 

 she had been 

 on the premises 

 three or four 

 years, and had 

 saved the com- 

 pany a " tidy 

 sum." Previ- 



accompanied me. He 

 said they found it quite 

 impossible to get along 

 without a cat ; they had 

 tried, but the place be- 

 came overrun with mice. 

 During pussy's 

 occupation of 

 the empty play- 

 house plenty of 

 bodies were dis- 

 covered, but 

 never a live 

 mouse had been 

 seen disporting 

 itself. 



The cats in 

 Gove r n m e n t 

 service in Ame- 



A PAIR OF SHORT-HAIRED BROWN TABBIES. 

 (Photo: T. Fall, Baker St., W.) 



rica are very 



ous to obtaining ner services the packets of numerous. The army has a regular corps of 

 bird-seed disappeared like magic, for they them kept at the commissary depots of the 

 were demolished wholesale by the swarms of great cities. It is customary for the officer 



