Stories of Animal Sagacity | Page 2

was seen to climb up on the window-sill, and then to
rear herself on her hind-feet, in an oblique position at the full stretch of
her body, when, steadying herself with one front paw, with the other
she raised the knocker; and Mary, who was on the watch, instantly ran
to the door and let her in.
Miss Deb's knock now became as well-known to the servant as that of

any other member of the family, and, no doubt to her great satisfaction,
it usually met with prompt attention.
Could the celebrated cat of the renowned Marquis of Carrabas have
done more, or better? Not only must Deb have exercised reason and
reflection, as well as imitation, but a considerable amount of
perseverance; for probably she made many vain attempts before she
was rewarded with success.
Some Scotch ladies told me of a cat they had when young, brought by
their grandfather from Archangel, which, under the same circumstances,
used to reach up to the latch of the front door of a house in the country,
and to rattle away on it till admitted. I have seen a cat which the same
ladies now possess make a similar attempt.
Does it not occur to you that you may take a useful lesson from little
Pussy, and when you have an object to gain, a task to perform, think
over the matter, and exert yourself to the utmost till you have
accomplished it?
THE CAT AND THE RABBIT-TRAP.
An instance of the sagacity of a cat came under my own notice. I was
living, a few years ago, in a country place in Dorsetshire, when one day
a small tortoise-shell cat met my children on the road, and followed
them home. They, of course, petted and stroked her, and showed their
wish to make her their friend. She was one of the smallest, and yet the
most active of full-grown cats I ever saw. From the first she gave
evidence of being of a wild and predatory disposition, and made sad
havoc among the rabbits, squirrels, and birds. I have several times seen
her carry along a rabbit half as big as herself. Many would exclaim that
for so nefarious a deed she ought to have been shot; but as she had
tasted of my salt, taken refuge under my roof, besides being the pet of
my children, I could not bring myself to order her destruction.
We had, about the time of her arrival, obtained a dog to act as a
watchman over the premises. She and he were at first on fair terms--a
sort of armed neutrality. In process of time, however, she became the

mother of a litter of kittens. With the exception of one, they shared the
fate of other kittens. When she discovered the loss of her hopeful
family, she wandered about in a melancholy way, evidently searching
for them, till, encountering Carlo, it seemed suddenly to strike her that
he had been the cause of her loss. With back up, she approached, and
flying at him with the greatest fury, attacked him till blood dropped
from his nose, when, though ten times her size, he fairly turned tail and
fled. Pussy and Carlo, after this, became friends; at least, they never
interfered with each other.
Pussy, however, to her cost, still continued her hunting expeditions.
The rabbits had committed great depredations in the garden, and the
gardener had procured two rabbit-traps. One had been set at a
considerable distance from the house, and fixed securely in the ground.
One morning the nurse heard a plaintive mewing at the window of the
day-nursery on the ground-floor. She opened it, and in crawled poor
Pussy, dragging the heavy iron rabbit-trap, in the teeth of which her
fore-foot was caught. I was called in, and assisted to release her. Her
paw swelled, and for some time she could not move out of the basket in
which she was placed before the fire. Though suffering intense pain,
she must have perceived that the only way to release herself was to dig
up the trap, and then drag it, up many steep paths, to the room where
her kindest friends--nurse and the children--were to be found.
Carlo had been caught before in the same trap, and he bit at it, and at
everything around, and severely injured the gardener, who went to
release him. Thus Pussy, under precisely the same circumstances,
showed by far the greatest amount of sagacity and cool courage. She,
however, not many weeks after her recovery, came in one day with her
foot sadly lacerated, having again been caught in a trap; so, although
she could reason, she did not appear to have learned wisdom from
experience. This last misfortune, however, taught her prudence, as she
was never