Evening star., 1949-05-26
This and That
By Charles Z. Trdce,cell ..
CHESAPEAKE STREET.

CHESAPEAKE STREET
Dear Sir:
II had an argument recently with friend
He said that cats never catch squirrels.
Il say cats can and do catch squirrels
please let me know who is right,
I'm my time have seen many squirrels
caught in straight run, and / also have
watched q cat stalk q squirrel and seize II
before 1t could make q tree.
Kindly settle this argument. one way or
another. Very truly your. d. OBJ"
Our correspondent wins
The house cat common, Persian or Eia-
mese) is well able to catch our common gray
squirrel.
r. What he does with it after he catches It
Is where the trouble comes In. at least In
the feline mind.
The desirability Of the catch is uppermost
before the deed.
No sooner has the cat the furred squirrel
In his mouth. than he begins to realize he
has picked up a hot potato
He Is afraid to let him loose. and even
more afraid of holding on to him.
SHH
As a rule. q cat with a squirrel soon puts
1t down.
We have seen a.cat place a caught squirrel
at the base OF tree.
After few seconds, while the cat was
standing over 1t. making up his mind what
to do. the squirrel gathered himself together.
and made leap up the tree.
The cat just sat there, foolishly looking up
at the master rodent.
1t is seldom or never that cat pursues
squirrel up q tree.
He has found out from long experience
that 1t Is useless.
The plain ability Of the master rodent to
do what he pleases on trunk or limb Is In
sharp contrast with the climbing powers of
cat.
While most cats have the ability to 60 up
trunk quite fast, they are seldom really
ut home in any sort Of tree.
They 60 out on long limbs. back again
to the trunk, sometimes do not know how
to come down.
This inability of the cat to do anything
In tree saves many bird.
One might think, offhand, that cats would
climb trees to get at baby birds.
Actually, this Is seldom done. because cats
are not at all at home in trees.
They are poor tree climbers. at best, and
they know 1t.
Those who do not know 1t are fellows
who are young. or are frightened up . tree
Uy u uOB, In most cases.
Climbing higher and higher. they soon
get themselves in the typical cat situation,
which probably gave rise to the old saying
about being "out on . limb"
The cat claws are so curved that the only
way they can contact bark Is for the animal
to come down backward.
This. unfortunately. Is something some
cats have not learned, especially young
ones.
They can 60 up. all right. but when they
start down, they insist on trying to do 1t
head down.
This means that the back or round Of
the claw simply slides over the bark
Some cats. on coaxing. win turn around
and come down tail first, but others seem
70 resent instructions. They persistently try
1t head. down.
It is good thing. one has q kitten, to
train 1t IN this matter. By permitting II to
scamper up about six feet. and then turning
1t around SO that its head is down. its claws
then dig into the bark. and it gets the idea
Of how to come down a tree. something
that will stand 1t in good stead for the rest
Of its life
Cats and dogs are intrigued with squirrels
Both animals try to catch them. but neither
succeeds too often Squirrels are not IN
much danger from either cat or dog proba-
bly, more from the latter. since the dog Jaw
and teeth are more Furnishing. But neither
cat nor dog can unrlm or out-dodge scutr-
rel, O. . rule. Most squirrels that get caught
are fellows which for some reason Or other
spend too much time tantalixing the larger
animal. This Ii . bit Of roguery In the
squirrel nature. one which sometimes mis-
nrss and results n capture.