The Senses of Cats. 49 
of their auditory sense there can be no doubt. Often have I 
seen the black warrior already described move stealthily off 
his rustic table in the garden on to the wall, when a cat was 
walking down the path of the next garden, in order to watch 
the movements of the enemy. About 3ft. of the height of the 
wall would intervene between him and the next garden when on 
his table, yet I cannot doubt that he heard the footfall of the 
other cat, a sound which probably no human ear would have 
detected. During the summer, it was frequently the habit of 
some of the seventeen pets of my neighbour (the old woman) to 
walk in at the back of my domicile and pass through to the 
front along the corridor and out into the road through the open 
doors, instead of climbing several garden walls. In doing so, 
they passed the door of the breakfast parlour, or whatever be 
the name of that front room of a house which lies below the 
level of the road, and is reached by the area steps. During 
warm weather, this room was pleasantly cool, and there I took 
my meals. A tom cat, who had been devoted to a life of 
celibacy by the veterinary surgeon, usually attended me at 
dinner, sitting respectfully, expectant of tit-bits, a yard or so 
behind the chair on which my retriever sat surveying with 
dignified self-restraint the plate whereon his master gathered 
fragments of vegetables and meat, to be presently mixed with 
the soaked biscuit for his dinner. 
T have always avoided at meal-time the bad habit of reading. 
We should not divert to the brain by compulsory thought any 
of the blood which should be occupied about the digestive 
organs in stimulating their secretions. Nevertheless, I find a 
pleasure in the society of animals at this time, which occupies 
the mind in a gentle way and engages the sympathies. Failing 
such high company as the dog or a cat, 1 like to have a canary 
or other cage bird within sight; and in the Australian bush I 
taught a horse to eat “damper,” in order that my frugal and 
solitary board might not be without the companionship of a fel- 
low creature. An intimate friend of my own brings a favourite 
snake to dinner every day, and there can be no doubt of the 
E 
