"On pointing out my discovery to the owner of the garden, he said that
his losses had been very serious that winter owing to the ravages of
these animals, and said that he had brought both dogs and cats down to
the stream to hunt for them; but they were too wary to be often caught."
I do not think that the owner of the garden knew very much about the
characters either of the cat or water-vole.
Every one who is practically acquainted with cats knows that it is next
to impossible to point out an object to a cat as we can to a dog. She
looks at your finger, but can never direct her gaze to the object at
which you are pointing. In fact, I believe that pussy's eyes are not
made for detecting objects at a distance.
If we throw a piece of biscuit to a dog, and he does not see where it
has fallen, we can direct him by means of voice and finger. But, if a
piece of meat should fall only a foot or two from a cat, all the
pointing in the world will not enable her to discover it, and it is
necessary to pick her up and put her nose close to the meat before she
can find it.
So, even, if a water-vole should be seen by the master, the attention of
the cat could not be directed to it, her instinct teaching her to take
prey in quite a different manner.
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