[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIE,—The writer of the
interesting article on the above subject in the Spectator of July 15th is mistaken in thinking that the "salt cat" of ancient pigeon-books was only a catch- title or a corruption of the "salt cates " of spicy memory ; in one case at least, as I can testify, it was a grim reality. When a child of twelve I was sent to stay at an old farmhouse in the Vale of Evesham, and while exploring some lofts in the outbuildings where generations of pigeons bad made their homes, I was horrified to come upon the bleached and mouldering skeleton of a cat stretched on a broken dish beneath one of the windows. Rushing to question my farmer friend as to the gruesome object, I was told that it was a "salted cat" which had been put there for the pigeons to peck at. Whether it had been cooked I do not know ; certainly it had been skinned.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Clifton. E. HODGES.
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