Evening star., 1949-04-02
This and That
By Charles Z. TrdcetDeH

~ NItE ICS e. 3fuCCUSG
Everybody has heard OF "the picture no
artist can paint"
~. There is q picture few photographers can
snap, either.
It is of a cat about ready to catch q
squirrel.
Or. more accurately. Of a cat that thinks
he is about to catch q squirrel. ~
The other day. old Smokey, the Persian.
was seated squarely behind small bird
feeding station.
The station is on . stump about q foot
high.
This put the cats head about on level
with the roof Of the bird feeding station.
There were no birds, needless to state.
There was just a squirrel.
The active rodent was eating sunfiower
seeds on the other side of the station.
To see the squirrel, the big gray cat had to
peer around the side.
To see the cat, the squirrel had only to
look up.
This the creature refused to do.
He pretended that no cats green eyes were
looking at him.
Smokey did not bulge.
He could have reached out a paw and
touched the busty tailed rodent, but he pre-
ferred not to.
The truth is Smokey was afraid.
Most cats are bit afraid of squirrels. Oh.
they make out as If they are not, of course:
cats love to pretend. just as humans do.
Smokey was pretending that he did not
want to touch the smelly creature.
To cat, the squirrel Is very rank.
That gamey smell, you know Some hui
man woodsmen have sworn that they could
smell bear long before they saw it.
It is all matter of oils. Who remembers
when bears grease" was respectable rub
bing compound?
catcher, checkmated by squirrel.
Smoke would peer out one side OF the
station. then around the other.
The squirrel was still pretending there was
no enemy there 1t was just as If he were
muttering to himself, well, I'm not going to
give I'D these good sunfiower seeds because
that villain Is there. I'll eat just one more
before take run for It,"
The run was exactly what the cat was hop
ing for. Cats are great on pursuit when the
other fellow runs-especially If 1t is smaller.
Before there are any harsh thoughts about
the cat, in this respect, let us remind every
one that it is not cats alone that use such
tactics. Dogs seldom attack a cat head-on.
They usually wait for it to turn. Even great
nations have been known to operate in the
same way. That is why we want no appease-
ment1
Smokey still sat behind the feeding station.
The squirrel suddenly darted out and
away.
Smoke was In action on the split second
He leaped after the squirrel. his paws raking
The busy tail, but he was much too late.
Tha sn.iirrel had made thu tree
This tree was Just four feet away. handy
distance CThe bird feeding station had
ben placed there Just to accommodate them.
None has ever been caught there. although
there are always catsJ
The squirrel hung head down on the tree
trunk and herated the big cat. Probably
some of the respect cats, as class, show
squirrels Is due to this habit of chattering
at them. It Is really swearing-and 1t works
The cat sat below the squirrel, looking up
with big green eyes. but never making move
up the trunk. He knew 1t was no use.
Persian cats are bit smarter than COM
mon cats Probably about 10 per cent.
That Is not very much, but when you con-
slider that cats are very little fellows. after
all, and do not have much intelligence, 10
Der cent is worth having.
It is amazing that an animal able to catch
and destroy the largest rats would be afraid
Of the comparatively small squirrel.
II must be the incessant "bawiing
out" the squirrels give the cats. whenever
they - them.