ANIMAL LIFE IN THE FIRING LINE. [To MB EIRSOS Or
TH2 "
Srn,—The following may be of interest, dated as it is from "Somewhere near Hill 60" :—
"Talking about cats, we have noticed a very peculiar thing about them. As we pass through desolate and ruined and unin- habited villages quite near the firing line it in quite a common thing to see a cat wandering about at night, or perhaps you bear one mewing away in some old barn. I suppose they still find mice there. I remember sleeping with my two friends in a shattered barn only a quarter of a mile behind the firing line we had gone there for the night because our 'dug-out' got so damp—it was about a month ago now—and as we were having our supper in walked a beautiful grey-coated fellow. It was very shy, and soon ran off in the barn. When dawn arrived we had to go back to our ' dng-out ' because of the shelling which would probably take place. It was fortimate we did, for we saw three or four shells break over and near the old house, but I expect the old cat remained safe. Again, when we were in the trenches in the front line a black eat came up from the support trench (I had seen her there previously) and wandered about in and out amongst us, and the most extraordinary thing was that during the day she only wandered about below the parapet—it would have been fatal for her to have appeared above it, as it was with us, for we were using periscopes by day. Well, directly it got dark, and we were able to look over and fire, she would make no bones about running along the very top, where all day she would have been shot. This struck us as being very interesting. I think the old cat knew quite a lot about it. She soon disappeared, we didn't know where, but I dare say she still roams about there, although it was a trench very near Hill 60."
—I am, Sir, etc., A. J. SIFTON, 4 Culminglon Road, Ealing, W.
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