264 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



forbear to swoop. Some of us have long laboured 

 under the delusion — fostered by prints in early- 

 school books — that eagles are particularly addicted 

 to pouncing upon snakes, but Mr. Robinson says 

 they infinitely prefer to take their chances with a 

 cat. 



Another point upon which this clever writer 

 dwells emphatically is the proof afforded by Pussy's 

 household habits of her solitary life before domesti- 

 cation. Even now, after centuries of civilization, a 

 dog bolts his food in evident fear of interruption, 

 hides his bones underground, growls and snarls if 

 another dog approaches his plate, and shows plainly 

 that in old savage days he was a member of an 

 active and not too honest community. The cat, 

 never accustomed to tribal life, evinces a different 

 disposition. " When given anything to eat," ob- 

 serves Mr. Robinson, " she first carefully smells 

 the morsel, then takes it in a deliberate and gin- 

 gerly way, and sits down to finish it at leisure. 

 There is none of that inclination to snatch hastily 

 at food held before her, which we see in even well- 

 trained dogs ; nor does a cat seem in any hurry to 

 stow her goods in the one place where thieving ras- 

 cals cannot interfere with them." 



It is but fair to state that Mr. Robinson's theo- 

 ries have been stoutly opposed by Mr. Andrew 

 Lang, who, though not a naturalist, has enjoyed 



