Contrast the cat in these respects. It is at heart an outlaw, like its wild ancestors: recognising, in general, no motives but those of its own ease and gratification. Its social instinct is almost absent; and though it sometimes displays affection to people who pet it, the cat is, as a rule, more attached to places than to persons. It retains, too, the independence and versatility which are developed by a solitary life. A lost cat can usually take care of itself and find sufficient food; and cases are not uncommon of cats leaving comfortable homes and choosing to live wild lives in the woods. Ancestral methods of hunting also account largely for certain differences in the domestic cat and dog. The solitary ancestral cats, like the lions and tigers of to-day, sprang suddenly upon the prey at the end of silent, stealthy stalking. How firmly this method has become fixed in the character of the race may be seen still in the manner in which a cat stalks a mouse or a small bird, or even, in play, a dead leaf. At the final spring the sharp, sickle-shaped claws are used to hold down the victim. The solitary hunter is able to devour its capture at leisure, and the domestic cat is still distinguished by its dainty and deliberate manner of feeding. The wild dogs hunt in a quite different manner. The whole pack joins in [Pg 254] the chase, the trail being followed by the sense of smell. There is no attempt at concealment, no stealthy stalking; but an open reliance upon speed, endurance, and numbers, rather than upon cunning. If one dog loses the scent another picks it up and gives the signal. Mutual help is thus the secret of success in hunting. But this is at an end when the prey is killed. The victim is torn to pieces and devoured greedily, each animal eating as rapidly as possible, for in most cases there is not enough to satisfy them all. And the well-fed domestic dog still betrays the ancestral necessity for hurried eating in the manner of bolting his food.