And Sully, I imagine, just surveyed the whole proceedings with a look of quiet sagacity on his face. Hmm?
Well, a few years ago when my late classic silver tabby, Bitsy McCloud was still with us, she was stalking a bird in the street near the curb. The bird did not seem to be able to fly, and -- in a manner much less dramatic than Duckboots' feat -- I was (barely) able to catch the bird before Bitsy could. I brought it in and made a large cage for it out of an old rabbit cage (covered with smaller mesh). A friend who was visiting at the time said he thought it was a pigeon, but I didn't think so, since it kept saying "Peeeeep!" A couple of weeks later, when the bird had grown a bit and its voice changed (to "coo, coo" instead of "peeeep), I realized it was, in fact a fledgling pigeon I had rescued, probably before it really got the hang of flying. When I gave it the chance and it flew around my bedroom, it was obviously time to release it, so my friend and I took it to a local park and it flew up into a tree with some other pigeons.
Can't say I was always so successful in rescuing critters from Bitsy McCloud and Minnie Meowse, though. (Bitsy, at least, would actually EAT the birds she caught, but neither one of them would eat the mice.)