hat on the ground they could do nothing more than threaten, one of them
lifted a stone from the middle of the garden, and perched with it on a
tree planted in the hedge, where she sat, watching the motions of the
enemy of her young. As the cat crept along under the hedge, the crow
accompanied her, flying from branch to branch, and from tree to tree; and
when at last puss ventured to quit her hiding-place, the crow, leaving the
trees and hovering over her in the air, let the stone drop from on high on
her back.

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE XIV.

Filial Duty.

A surgeon's mate on board a ship relates that while lying one evening
awake he saw a rat come into his berth, and after well surveying the
place, retreat with the greatest caution and silence. Soon after it
returned, leading by the ear another rat, which it left at a small
distance from the hole which they entered. A third rat joined this kind
conductor; they then foraged about, and picked up all the small scraps of
biscuit; these they carried to the second rat, which seemed blind, and
remained in the spot where they had left it, nibbling such fare as its
dutiful providers, whom the narrator supposes were its offspring, brought
to it from the more remote parts of the floor.

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE XV.

The Dinner Bell.

It is customary in large boarding-houses to announce the dinner-hour by
the sound of a bell. A cat belonging to one of these houses always
hastened to the hall on hearing the bell, to get its accustomed meal; but
it happened one day that she was shut up in a chamber, and it was in vain
for her that the bell had sounded. Some hours after, having been released
from her confinement, she hastened to the hall, but found nothing left for
her. The cat thus disappointed got to the bell, and sounding it,
endeavoured to summon the family to a second dinner, in which she doubted
not to participate.

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE XVI.

A Singular Interposition.

A lady had a tame bird which she was in the habit of letting out of its
cage every day. One morning as it was picking crumbs of bread off the
carpet, her cat, who always before showed great kindness for the bird,
seized it on a sudden, and jumped with it in her mouth upon a table. The
lady was much alarmed for the fate of her favourite, but on turning about
instantly discerned the cause. The door had been left open, and a strange
cat had just come into the room! After t