Evening star., 1944-02-23
This and That
By Charles Z. TraceueN.

Five sociable cats were harassing the
birds and squirrels at the feeding place.
There were two yellow cats, one with
out a tail, two black-and- white cats and
one black one.
1t may be realized that the birds and
squirrels were having no easy time of
it with the feline playboys
Lest people who do not like cats think
something outrageous was going on, we
hasten to say that the spectacle was
rather funny than otherwise
The birds by the score sat safely in
. huge rose vine that backgrounded the
feeding station, which perched about
feet from the ground on a four
legged stand
The squirrels-there were four of them
spent their time racing from a large
tree some 10 feet away to the feeder.
The cats kept weaving around trying
to catch the animated rodents.
This was no nature fake The cats
were all about a year old, in the first
flush Of young cathood.
They had no more idea how to catch
squirrel than you would
How would you like to try to catch a
squirrel with bare hands, especially if
you were but 6 years old? That is
about the comparative age of 1-year-
old cat.
Today they were having a lesson in
squirrel catching, without any particular
success.
They, of course, did not do much
cooperating. Cooperation is mans
special attainment. What he does when
he co-operates in the great art of catch
ing something is being shown the world
around.
When cat wants to catch something
it emulates the Jap, sneaks up on the
objective and then springs.
On this accession the closest to COM
binlng forces the tail weavers came was
for two Of them to approach the stand
at the same time.
These happened to be the yellow
Manx cat and a black-and- white one.
The cats took up a position at each
end and waited for the squirrel to leap
into their jaws
The bold squirrel at times seemed to
be about to do this. He would peer at
cat, then make a Jump at it. This
movement invariably caused the startled
cat to retreat. At times the SQUIRRELS
sharp teeth were not more than q foot
from the cleaning cat eyes.
This was the boldest of the four
squirrels.
At times he would leap like a flash
to the ground and speed up the lofty
tree.
After couple of futile dashes in pur-
suit the two cats gave it up as bad job.
AS for the three others, they sat
around as if carved in stone.
We hope no one will doubt this story.
1t is true down to the last detail. Here
comes the crux of it.
While the fearless squirrel sat calmly
munching sunflower seed, the black
and-white cat leaped to the roof of the
feeding station.
The squirrel protected by the roof,
continued to eat as If predatory animal
was not within a mile. AS a matter of
fact, the cat on the roof was only a
few inches from him. The cat on the
ground was not much farther.
When the animal on the roof peered
over, the squirrel nipped at his whiskers.
Not satisfied with this evidence of his
disdain for all cats, the blitz squirrel
darted down one leg of the stand after
the yellow cat.
This so amazed the bob-tailed one
that he made off across the lawn with
his peculiar rabbitlike gait.
The squirrel leaped out of the feeder
and whisked up the tree. All five cats
now were within few feet of the feed
ing station. One was still on top of it,
AT this point the bold squirrel-and
even cat hater must admit he was
bold-began to creep back. He lured
all five animals through the wire fence,
which action required some tight
squeexes on their part.
The squirrel darted through the fence
with the greatest Of ease, leaving the
: five sociable cats sitting back on their
haunches In disgust.