40 NATURAL HISTORY. 



the pursuit of rats and mice. So strong, indeed, is the passion 

 for hunting in the breast of the Cat, that she sometimes dis- 

 dains mice "and such small deer," aud trespasses on warrens 

 or preserves. A large tabby cat, residing at no great distance 

 from White Horse Vale, was accustomed to go out poaching 

 in the preserves of a neighbouring nobleman, and so expert 

 was she at this illegal sport that she constantly returned 

 bearing in .her mouth a leveret or a partridge, which she in- 

 sisted on presenting to her mistress, who in vain endeavoured 

 to check her marauding propensities. These exploits, how- 

 ever, brought their own punishment ; for one day, when in the 



Domestica (Lat. domestic), the Cat. 



act of seizing a leveret, she found herself caught in a vermin 

 trap, which deprived her of one of her hind legs. This mis' 

 fortune did not damp her enthusiasm for hunting, as although 

 the loss of a leg prevented her from chasing hares, &c., she 

 would still bring in an occasional rat. 



This instinctive desire of hunting seems to be implanted in 

 cats at a very early age. I have seen kittens but just able to 

 see, bristle up at the touch of a mouse, and growl in a terrific 

 manner if disturbed. Weissenborn in his Magazine of Natural 

 History gives the following interesting account of the propen- 

 sity of the cat to hunt, and of the mice to escape, both being 



