Concerning Cats 



natural, invariable, and irreconcilable enemies, lived 

 in perfect harmony with my pet rodents. The rats 

 never showed the slightest distrust of the cats, nor 

 did the cats ever betray their confidence. Don- 

 Pierrot-de-Navarre was very much attached to them. 

 He would sit close to their cage and observe their 

 gambols for hours together, and if by any chance 

 the door of the room in which they were left was 

 shut, he would scratch and mew gently until some 

 one came to open it and allow him to rejoin his little 

 white friends, who would often come out of the cage 

 and sleep close to him. Seraphita, who was of a 

 more reserved and disdainful temper, and who dis- 

 liked the musky odor of the white rats, took no part 

 in their games; but she never did them any harm, 

 and would let them pass before her without putting 

 out a claw. 



" Don-Pierrot-de-Navarre, who came from Havana, 

 required a hothouse temperature : and this he al- 

 ways had in his own apartments. The house was, 

 however, surrounded by extensive gardens, divided 

 by railings, through and over which cats could easily 

 cUmb, and in those gardens were trees inhabited by 

 a great number of birds. Pierrot would frequently 

 take advantage of an open door to get out of an 

 evening and go a-hunting through the wet grass and 

 flower-beds : and, as his mewing under the windows 

 when he wanted to get in again did not always 

 awaken the sleepers in the house, he frequently had 



100 



