60 The Carnivora. 
“marvellous sagacity.” Thus, a leading critical journal, not 
however, strong in its natural history, lately told its readers 
how a favourite cat, belonging to a literary lady, used to take 
particular interest in her work. One day he jumped on the 
table in front of her, and watched her keenly for some time with 
so preternaturally knowing a look in his eye, with his head 
slightly on one side, that she was fain to lay down her pen and 
look at him. To her intense surprise and delight, he deliberately 
walked to the inkstand, took the pen in his mouth, and, leaping 
on the floor, began tracing characters on the carpet, in imitation, 
we may suppose, of his mistress! On another occasion, the lady 
apostrophized the cat in this fashion: “Oh, Timothy, I have 
lost a button off my dress; I do so wish you could find it for 
me!” Thereupon the creature looked at her knowingly, trotted 
out of the room, and in a few moments returned with the 
missing button in his mouth. No sane person will, of course, 
believe this account to be anything more than a deliberate 
fabrication, or the outcome of a peculiar, but not uncommon, 
mental condition. While there are people who will gravely 
make statements of this sort, and others who will as con- 
fidingly believe them, we need feel no surprise at any extrava- 
gance of assertion or inference in cases of the exercise of the 
homing faculty, where an additional temptation to mental 
vagrancy is afforded by the supernatural element. 
Well authenticated instances are on record of cats lifting the 
latch of a door, or depressing the lever with their paws, and 
admitting themselves to the house; and there are others, 
of doubtful credibility, related of their springing up and 
lifting « knocker to call attention to their desire to enter, I 
am glad to be able to bear testimony tv one example of reflection 
on the part of a cat, which may not be much, but, in its way, 
indicates intelligence. I had established in this case great 
dread of a large straw hat by throwing it on to his back when- 
ever he entered the room during my retriever’s dinner time, 
and, by his presence, incited the dog to gobble his food. After 
two or three frights it was enough to place the hat on the floor, 
