Page:The home of a naturalist (IA homeofnaturalist00edmouoft).pdf/17

Rh the quadruped's motive for so doing is different from that of the man, and the result is tragically different too. It was the Naturalist's misfortune to see often a mangled minnesinger borne past him by the lithe grimalkin that daily sat, sleek and gentle, upon his shoulder while he dined. She shared his meals, and had not the excuse of hunger for her cruelty. He kept more than one cat, and the havoc wrought by those house-tigers among the birds was too terrible. I suppose their master received compensation in the interesting indoor study which his felines afforded. He was always ready to excuse the cats on the plea that "it is their nature to;" but he did not fail to chastise them at the same time; and his rebuking was not without effect upon some of these bird-fanciers.

The house-pets knew, one and all, that the dinner-bell was a call to meals, and would flock from various parts of the house or fields to the dining-room door and window. Some were allowed to come into the room. More than once, a feminine chorus of remonstrance was raised by the ladies of the family, and the result was temporary banishment of the animals at meal-times; but the edict was seldom carried into force, for more than a week, as even those who had been, loudest in requiring their absence, missed their dependents so much, that tacit permission for their recall was given. A tax was levied upon every plate and dish before it left the table, a process which the interested animals naturally regarded as the great event of the hour. All dry crusts and small slices of bread