At times they’re friendly and persistent, arriving on the scene to poke a nose into the news-gathering operation.

Other times they keep their distance, appear aloof, are hard to pin down.

Some are easily wooed with gifts: a warm meal, a cool drink. When flattery fails and aggressions surface, employing a muzzle is tempting but ill-advised.

I’m referring, of course, to foreign bureaucrats.

Wait, pardon the typo. Make that foreign bureau cats.

It’s become a tradition of sorts at The New York Times: far-flung foreign correspondents who populate their sometimes isolated outposts — from Kabul and Baghdad to Cairo and Dakar, in bureaus that often consist of only one or two journalists and occasionally their families — with local feline companions.