CAT-TALES.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 335, 9 May 1885, Page 22

CAT-TALES.

SOME REMARKABLE INSTANCES OP ANIMAL

INTELLIGENCE. A most extraordinary thing happened recently in an American village. A family came to town to attend a temperance meeting. They left the house in sole possession of master Tom, a favourite cat. On their return, as soon as the doors Avere open, out rushes the cat into the snow, where his motions excited such interest that being examined his feet were found to be blistered. Entering the house the surroundings of the sitting-room seemed to tell the story. A live coal had sparkled out and set the carpet on fire ; puss had evidently clawed out the fire, for the carpet was scratched to shreds for a considerable distance about the spot burned, leaving nothing but a centre of ends charred and frizzled. f\ r o other reasonable interpretation can be had, and all the circumstances support the theory of pussy's fidelity and bravery. The family hold Master Tom in high esteem. — Japanese cats have the shortest kind of fails, or else none at all. Being deprived of this usual ]jlaything they are very solemn pussies. An American once took one of these cats to San Francisco as a curiosity, and it utterly refused companionship with, the long-tailed feline specimens there ; but, finding a cat whose tail had been cut off by accident, the two became friendly at once. — A gentleman relates the following story of feline faithfulness : — His father owned a torn cat and a dog, a firm friendship existing between the two. His grandfather, living a short distance away, also owned a fine torn cat, and between the two cats there also prevailed friendly relations. But one day the grandfather's cat came down and savagely pitched into the dog ; after a sharp fight the cat was getting the better of the dog. The other cat had watched the entire contest, but when he saw that the dog was likely to get thoroughly whipped he rushed in, and the cat and dog gave the other cat a most unmerciful whale. — Henry Gallinan, residing in Austin, Texas, owns a mill and . pond, and grinds corn for the public. He has a man named Pruit, who attends to the mill. Pruit owns a large cat that, as soon as the mill is stopped by shutting down the gate, will immediately run down behind the mill and get on a log just over the sheeting over which the water is flowing. She will then look very intently into the water, which is from eighteen inches to two feet deep, until she spies a fish, she plunges into the water, frequently burying herself under it, but almost always coming out with a fi3h, She then quietly sits down on a rock near by and enjoys her meal. — An old resident of New York says ho can tell the state of the tides from the appearance of his cat's eyes. "When the tide is at a low ebb her eyes contract and become more oval. When the tide is on the flood her eyes expand and elongate. This theory easily explains what cats are made for. They are made to serve as tide indicators. There was a time when some person of weak intellect started

the story that cats were invented, to catclr* rats and mice. But when we recall the fact that over a billion rat and mouse traps are annually manufactured, in this country, while only ten millions of kittens are born in the same period, then the whole story at once explodes.