Perched on top of 's tin house, Miss Kitty Cat had been enjoying herself , while the birds made a great how-dy-do and tried in vain to frighten her away.  
When she heard all at once an unexpected meaow she showed that it startled her.
 
"A cat!" cried Miss Kitty. "I didn't suppose there was another cat for miles around." She looked about on all sides, on the ground and in the tree-tops. And there was no cat anywhere in sight.
 
Meanwhile the birds were all exclaiming, "There! He's here. Now Miss Kitty Cat had better watch out."
 
Again a strange, mocking catcall sounded from somewhere. There was a sort of about it that aroused Miss Kitty Cat's anger.
 
"He's come, has he?" she exclaimed to little Mr. Chippy, who at her from a good, safe distance. "If he's looking for a fight I'd be pleased to have him come and get it."
 
Whoever the stranger was, and wherever he was, he knew how to tease Miss Kitty Cat. Now he howled at her from the of lilac bushes on the edge of the flower garden. Now he mewed at her from the hedge in front of the . And though Miss Kitty Cat tried to get a glimpse of him, she couldn't see anything that even faintly resembled a cat.
 
The annoying cries moved from one place to another. She was sure of that. But the one that made them managed to stay hidden.
 
"This is queer!" Miss Kitty Cat said to herself. "Can it be that there's a cat's voice around here, and nothing more? A cat without a voice wouldn't be so strange. But a voice without a cat—that's the oddest thing I ever heard of!"
 
At last Rusty Wren seemed to take heart. And his wife, insid............