Abstract
THE following instance of sagacity in a cat has just been related to me by a friend who knew both the cat and its owner well. The latter, who lived at Ragusa Vecchia, in Dalmatia, was too poor to be able to provide food for the cat; the animal was therefore obliged to cater for himself, and was well known as a thief in the neighbourhood. One day one of the children was being sent off to school without any breakfast; the cat, hearing him sobbing for hunger, immediately went off, and returned with a piece of bread he had stolon from a baker hard by, and brought it to the child. The same thing happened another day, and he came back, dragging along a piece of meat bigger than himself. On crossing the threshold a bit of bone caught in a hole, so puss miawed till some one came to his help. This same cat, who was constantly catching birds on the roof, slept with some pet birds in a cage without attempting to touch them.
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EVANS, M. Intellect in Brutes. Nature 20, 220 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/020220c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/020220c0
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