230 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



which is engaged with a bone growls if his master 

 draws near, and the probable reason is that, 

 having accepted his human friends as members of 

 his pack, it seems to him probable that his master 

 would like to steal the bone and gnaw it himself. 

 Cats, indeed, appear to regard human beings who 

 may be domiciled with them rather as part of the 

 furniture than as comrades. We are probably, to 

 the feline mind, merely so many items of en- 

 vironment which might affect a cat's safety or 

 comfort. I do not say that some muddle-headed 

 ideas of comradeship may not occasionally arise ; 

 but from the action of cats generally, this, or 

 something like it, seems to be the prevailing view. 

 We must remember that the cat has acquired no 

 new instincts since it left its den in the wilds and 

 came into our houses, and that all its present 

 innate habits were primarily adjusted to the 

 conditions of a free life in the forest. Possibly, 

 therefore, where the dog transfers his loyalty and 

 esprit de corps from the pack to his new associates, 

 the cat, having no such social traditions or pre- 

 conceptions, merely transfers instinctive notions 

 about trees, wind, and weather. While I was 

 considering the probable view held by cats about 

 human beings, it was suggested by one ingenious 



