25 JULY 1896, Page 16

[To Till EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR "J SIR, —The

following true story fully bears out your belief in the intelligence of cats. A certain mother of the feline tribe strongly olij.2ct:-.d to the ribbon round ber kitten's neck—whether on the grounds of possible strangula- tion or of encouragement to youthful vanity does not appear. Blackie' was seen to conduct her kitten down to the cellar, where by dint of gnawing and pulling she

removed the ribbon and hid it beneath a lump of coal. She then made her exit through the window, leaving the kitten behind lest her plot should be detected. A short time after she was found scratching at the cellar door in a state of "innocent" bewilderment as to her child's whereabonts—I