2i6 The Common Cat. [Sess. 



beings. Bub a cat will never leave a person to whom it is 

 attached. It will go with him where he goes and abide with 

 him where he abides, — faithful and true will it remain. But 

 the affection which cats show is not confined to human beings, 

 — they are most loving to one another. How often will you 

 see one performing the toilet for another, especially if the 

 latter is ailing. They will even welcome strange cats into 

 the house, and allow them to eat out of the common dish. It 

 is a most untrue assertion to make that cats are selfish. Dainty 

 in their habits and tastes they are, but in my opinion that only 

 makes them more lovable. 



Benevolence is frequently evinced by cats. Thus a domestic 

 cat has been known to carry out a large part of its own dinner 

 to a starving cat outside, while it sat and watched the latter 

 enjoying its meal. Another one did the same with its repast 

 of fish, calling upon the homeless one to come and get it. A 

 kitten was brought into a house where there was already an 

 old cat. One day the kitten disappeared after some workmen 

 had been engaged in lifting the floor in the basement and re- 

 laying it. That evening the old cat, which never condescended 

 to explore these lower regions, came down, and attracting the 

 cook's attention, drew her towards the room in which the 

 flooring had been lifted, mewing and scraping, in order to 

 indicate a certain place. The servant listened and heard a faint 

 mewing coming from below the floor. The old cat had showed 

 her where the kitten was, and then went sedately upstairs. 

 Cats are, however, often greatly attached to other animals. 

 Thus a " cat and dog " life is sometimes most harmonious and 

 beautiful. A cat, which had as friend a parrot, once ran in 

 great excitement to call the attention of his mistress to the 

 bird which was in danger, A curious attachment is often seen 

 between a horse and a cat, the one never being quite happy 

 without the other, and the cat finding a resting-place on the 

 horse's back. Cats have also had such strange bedfellows as 

 mice, hares, alligators, and even birds. 



Maternal Love. — The love of the cat for her kittens is pro- 

 verbial, and I think there is no more beautiful sight than to 

 watch a mother cat nursing her young. The intense pleasure 

 which she evinces, the constant care which she bestows upon 

 her helpless progeny, and the anxiety she displays if you but 



