The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-11

streets and gardens with an air. They converse in the center of highways They walk with certain feline aban- don and momentary magnificence over gardens and squares. For the time they are not cats, but lions and tigers; or, to change the sinlile, they are no longer domestics, but gentlemen at large.
 Before sunrise one midsummer morning the writer was watching the early birds by the side of the London river, and wondering at the abundance and variety of life in the silver-gray light of the dawn. A pair of water hens were running on the mud left by the ebb, hedge-warblers singing, as they had done all night, and a pair of turtle- doves flew to drink before sunrise. When the first beams of the sun sent long shafts of light down the river the hedge-warblers were instantly silent, and almost immediately the blackbirds and sparrows and starlings appeared upon the grass. At this moment an- other ornithologist appeared on the scene in the person of an elegant young female cat. She made great efforts to stalk the fat blackbirds and cockspar- rows, f1attening herself till her whole body seemed almost as level as mat, yet capable of a rush forward when ever the birds looked in another direc- tion. But the birds were perfectly equal to the game. One blackbird in particular sidled off each time the cat came within distance, until he sat at lGf ', ~I,r .G H. IDx, ao,r1- shedding, where, if the cat made her spring, she must fall into the river. He, too, flew off, and at this moment of disappointment another and an old CT cat leaped lightly from the privet hedge close by and playfully cuffed the head of the disappointed one. This cat had probably been waiting on the chance of a drive" while the more inn petous one tried to stalk in the open. The latter seemed half-inclined to re- sent the humorous turn which the old- CT cat gave to her hunting, but the two soon made it up, and after strolling os- tentatiously across the lawn with their tails up, separated, and the young one adjourned to hunt 'ground-game" in the cam-shedding. The quarry were either mice or rats, but were attacked by storm, and not by waiting. The cat dived her paws into the cracks of the boards, reaching in as far as her shoulders, and soon bolded something, which she reached after head down. ward so far that nothing but her tail and one hind paw were visible. After hanging almost head downward for zl.z IL zlr ,r% the first cat came darting past like a 1 wild animal with an enormous rat in | it's mouth.
 It is doubtful whether the London cat Is in the least degree more docile or | biddable than his country cousin. He | is more dependent on man, for no one ever hears of London cat going off to live wild life willingly. though coun- | try cats do this frequently. It has been observed of the whole race, at least in this country, that though they will often obey the order Come" they absolutely refuse to entertain the com- mand "Go," and as most useful service involves this as the initial idea, the an- | imal which refuses obedience to it
 practically useless except as volun- | teer.
 The admirable sporting qualities,
 even of the London cat, should make
 him a most useful and amusing aid in sport, if he could be induced to co-ope- rate with his owner. There is only one piece of evidence that in ancient times | the cat was so trained-an Egyptian
 painting showing a cat bringing wild
 fowl to it's master from a papyrus bed and very few instances are on record
 even of it's being trained to retrieve in our day. A visitor to one of the mon-
 asteries on Mount Carmel states that
 when several of the monks went out
 gun on shoulder, to shoot game for the
 pot, he saw their cats marching out | after them to aid as retrievers, but he
 did not witness the sport. There is no doubt that cats can be trained to fol-
 low, like dogs. A workingman in the l North Midlands recently owned small l cat which followed him all day, and l when tired was carried in a large pock- | ct in its masters coat. So also a navvy
 some years ago owned a cat which had | followed or accompanied him to work l in most parts of northern and western England, sometimes following him on l foot and sometimes carried in the
 white washable bag in which navvies
 keep their unday clothes. But as a | rule it is much easier to teach them not to do things than to do them.
 Recently in a large London engineer l ing works there was some regret that the "best foundry cat" was dead. The
 sand used for making casts in the foundry is mixed with flour. Mice
 come to eat the flour, and spoil the
 "moulds'' It is not desirable that rats
 and mice should be about in this loft
 so cats are kept there. The cats have
 to be taught not to walk about on the
 moulds or scratch them up, and this
 "best foundry cat'' was absolutely per feet in this respect. In these works
 most departments have special cat | There is even one in the galvanizine
 shop, which knows quite well that the
 hot metal spirits when plates are dipped in, and has learned to get under
 cover at this juncture.
 It need scarcely be said that the Lon.
 don cat is a worse enemy to the caget
 birds even than the country pussy, as
 in the day time it lives more indoors | Whether if ever catches goldfish ont o