ANIMAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES THE CAT BY VIOLET HUNT LONDON ADAM & CHARLES BLACK 1905 'I had rather be a kitten and cry--Mew!' SHAKESPEARE. AGENTS IN AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK _UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME._ _PRICE 6s. EACH._ THE DOG. BY G. E. MITTON. THE BLACK BEAR. BY PERRY ROBINSON. THE RAT. BY G. M. A. HEWETT. TO ANNE CHILD [Illustration: LOKI.] PREFACE A cat is of all animals the most difficult to know; it is so intimate, but so detached; so dependent on human beings for its comfort, so loftily indifferent to their wishes. It requires one who has lived with cats and seen their idiosyncrasies, their whims and their strong individuality, to write about them, and in the present author they have found a spokeswoman who knows them through and through. A sense of humour is necessary in dealing with the subject--and the humour is not lacking. Loki is a real cat in more senses than one, and those who follow his life story will find themselves better able to understand their own cats than they have ever been before. THE EDITOR. CONTENTS I. THE NURSERY II. ONE LESS THAN FIVE III. TO LAP OR NOT TO LAP IV. THE SCHOOLROOM V. ONE LESS THAN FOUR VI. THE FIRST JOURNEY VII. AN INVALID VIII. A MAN WHO HATED ME IX. MY FIRST MOUSE X. THE CHILDREN'S HOUR XI. THE SURPRISE THAT FELL FLAT XII. FROM TOP TO BOTTOM XIII. CATAPUK XIV. 'POOSH!' XV. THE BLACK COMMON CAT XVI. THE BLACK CAT BRINGS MEASLES XVII. A WEDDING IN THE HOUSE ILLUSTRATIONS BY ADOLPH BIRKENRUTH Loki The milk ran down the creases to the floor She used to stand on her hind legs and look at the painting Out of that dog's way, at any rate Auntie May took me across her shoulder I played with shavings for about an hour A black cat brings good luck to a theatre