In cats the senses of sight, hearing, and touch are very highly
developed, and the intelligence is proportionately great. That they
exhibit great adroitness in catching their prey is well known, but the
climax is reached in certain recorded cases where a young bird was used
as a decoy for its parents, and where crumbs were scattered or scraped
from beneath the snow to attract sparrows. A remarkable case is recorded
of a cat which, being accidentally ignited by paraffin, ran one hundred
yards and plunged into a trough of water.