St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-10-13

among the inmates OF my mouse ID
an exceptionally fine rhouser, who,
with several of his brethren in kitten
hood. was dropped out of bag at my
door eight years ago, since when he
has shared our fortunes. and become
a marked favorite in the family. In
appearance he is a handsome cat, of q
dark moase-cOlOr; his coat long and
thick as mat. Remarkably sagacious,
he is also actively greedy. and at the
same time discriminating and nice In
his tastes; In fast, quite q gourmet. I"
While plump, he is not ordinarily
over-weighty; but have noticed dur
ing the months of May and June, at
the time the birds are engaged in their
nest-building, brooding and bringing
out their young ones, that Mouser. as
rule. amasses flesh; for q cat, he
reaches ponderous avoirdupois.
Heretofore, at this season of the year,
bave been too much occupied to pay
much attention to the fact; but a sud-
den illness during the past spring con-
fined me to my bed for many weeks.
and it was while cOnvalescing that /
discovered Mouser's mode of putting
on flesh.
When sufficiently recovered to sit by
the open window, was agreeably sur
prised to- See an unusual number of
robbins hopping about; had not seen
them SO numerous in twenty years To
my great satisfaction. found they had
colonized largely in the elms that sur
rounded the house. and. what struck
me as curious. were often In q state of
angry excitement emitting short. ter
rified staccato notes as they few wildly
about or massed themselves upon a
tree, with feathers rufled as il an enc
my were in sight; all the time keeping
up vOciferous racket of bird Oratory
both frightened and denunciatory.
Ny affectionate regard for my gener-
ally peaceful. melodious pets led me to
seek out the cause of this distress; but
with all my interested observation,
failed to discover any thing because OF
my limited view. About the first week
of June. however. was strong enough
10 be moved out upon the rear verands.
which. from its eastern lookor., pave
me the warmth OF the early sunlight
and a clear view Of the birds-nesting
domain. as we..i. as Of the domestic ar
rangement Of the household. Very
naturally l took up my old habits Of
obeervation, but with more than usual
keenness. having an object in view.
The morning Of my discovery Of Old
Mouser's fattening process was . re-
markably brilliant one. and was rem
aered softly musical BY the robins who
were out in full force. singing sweetly
as they fitted hither and yon. on provi-
dent, paternal errands. 1t was a very
peaceful time during the early hours
Of the day. Mouser came out from
the kitchen door. and. stretching him
self lazily out on the steps. lay there
summing himself in fat complacency,
his plump sides heaving with heavy
and long-drawn pu-rs- As it drew to-
ward ten o'clock he reused up. treated
himself to several luxurious stretch
lngs. and. with a look of shrewd pur-
pose in his sleepy. yellow eyes, moved
cautiously away. and soon lost sight
Of him. Presently saw slow wave
In the unknown grass beyond the we'll |
sweep. and suddenly Mouser's head
popped up. then as quickly disap-
peared. as he crept stealthily along
under cover Of the tall grass to the |
well-curb, where. sinking noiselessly
down, and flattening his body under |
the projecting spout he lay warily |
motionless. with his sly eyes raised |
and steadily fixed upon some object
just as tiger would wait for his prey. /!
While had been observing Mouser's |
suspicious movements, the robins had |
become peculiarly active and noisy; q
nest of aedgelings were just essaying |
their first fight, and with feeble, awks
ward attempts. were tumbling head
Dver-heels, to the dismay of the
fiurried. anxious bird-mother. 1t
seemed to me that every robin on the
place was on the wing, and all were in
the greatest commotiOn, giving forth
little shrill cries. and whirring and
swirling in reckless flights, but al
ways returning to light on . maple
tree near the house. where they chat
tered in angry discords. A few female
birds among them made bold concerted
charges. with all the courage Of ANA
eonian warriofe, shrieking out their
wrath like true viragoes. in tones that
were any thing but mslodious. / couldl