Certain Cat Characteristics 



in a nice fat robin and pen him up in the comer of 

 the kitchen. Apparently he took great care not to 

 harm so much as a feather, but the bird (the robin is 

 a notorious coward, and the cat evidently knew this) 

 was frightened nearly out of his wits, so that he 

 could only stand shaking in his comer. When my 

 aunt appeared, Dick plainly indicated that the robin 

 was meant for her. The fact that she always picked 

 up the terror-stricken robin, carried him to the door, 

 and set him free in plain sight of the cat, did not 

 affect his plan of paying his beloved mistress this 

 daily compliment, and for several summers he kept 

 up the practice. For many years she went South 

 for the winter, and as long as Dick lived he used to 

 meet her at the gate on her return and proudly escort 

 her straight to the pantry, where he insisted on being 

 fed by her, often before she took off her wraps. No 

 one else had ever pampered his appetite as she had ; 

 and after a long winter without her, he evidently rea- 

 soned, "Now I can have good things to eat once 

 more." 



In Nature, Vol. XX, there are several stories to 

 prove the reasoning power of cats. One of these 

 comes from India: — 



"In 1887, I was absent from Madras two months, 

 and left in my quarters three cats, one of which, an 

 English tabby, was a very gentle, affectionate crea- 

 ture. During my absence the quarters were occu- 

 pied by two young gentlemen who delighted in 



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