During a fox hunt, Reynard, being hard pressed, had to take refuge up the chimney of a hot house. He was followed by one of the hounds, who, passing through a flue nearly fifty feet in length, came out at the top of the chimney, but in some way missed Reynard in its dark recesses. By this time a number of people were collected at the top of the chimney. They let down a terrier, who, holding fast by his brush, soon drove him out.
A native Moor who went to hunt the lion, having gone far into the forest, happened to meet with two lion's cubs that came to caress him. The hunter stopped with the little animals, and waiting for the coming of the father or mother, took out his breakfast and gave them a part. The lioness arrived unseen by the huntsman, so that he had not time, or perhaps wanted the courage to take his gun. After having for some time looked at the man that was thus feasting her young, the lioness went away, and soon afterward returned, bearing with her a sheep, which she laid at the huntsman's feet.
The Moor, thus become one of the family, took this occasion of making a good meal, skinned the sheep, made a fire, and then roasted a part, giving the entrails to the young. The lion in his turn came also; and, as if respecting the rights of hospitality, he showed no tokens whatever of ferocity. Their guest the next day, having finished his provisions, returned, and resolved never more to kill any of those animals, the noble generosity of which he had so fully proven. He stroked and caressed the cubs at taking leave of them, and the mother and father went with him till he was safely out of the forest.
A gentleman in the county of Stirling kept a greyhound and a pointer, and being fond of coursing, the pointer was accustomed to find the hares, and the greyhound to catch them. When the season was over, it was found that the dogs were in the habit of going out by themselves, and killing hares for their own amusement. To prevent this, a large iron ring was fastened to the pointer's neck by a leather collar, and allowed to hang down so as to prevent the dog from running or jumping over ditches and dykes. The animals, however, continued to stroll out into the fields together; and one day the gentleman, suspecting that they were up to some sort of mischief, decided to watch them. To his surprise, he found that the moment when they thought no one was looking at them, the greyhound took up the iron ring in his mouth, and carrying it, they set off to the hills, and began to search for hares as usual. They were followed, and it was discovered that whenever the pointer scented the hare, the ring was dropped, and the greyhound stood ready to pounce upon the poor little creature the moment the other drove her from her form, but that he always came back to help his friend after he had caught his prey.
A gentleman tells how, during the time he was living at Podor, a French factory on the banks of the river Niger, there were two ostriches, though young, of gigantic size, which afforded him a very remarkable sight. “They were,” he says, “so tame that two little blacks mounted both together on the back of the largest. No sooner did he feel their weight, than he began to run as fast as possible, and carried them several times round the village, as it was impossible to stop him otherwise than by putting something in the path. This sight pleased me so much, that I was anxious to have it repeated, and to try their strength, directed a full-grown negro to mount the smaller and the two boys the larger. This burden did not seem at all too much for their strength. At first they went at a fairly sharp trot, but when they became heated a little, they expanded their wings as though to catch the wind, and moved with such fleetness that they scarcely seemed to touch the ground. Most people have, at one time or another, seen a partridge run; and therefore know that there is no man whatever able to keep up with it; and it is easy to imagine, that if this bird had a longer step, its speed would be much greater. The ostrich moves much like the partridge, with this advantage; and I am satisfied thatthose I am speaking of, would have distanced the fleetest racehorses that were ever bred in England. It is true they would not hold out as long as a horse; but they would undoubtedly go over a given space in less time. I have often seen this performance, and it gives one an idea of the wonderful strength of an ostrich, and shows of what use it might be, did we but know how to break and manage it as we do a horse.”
A fawn that was drinking in a park, was suddenly pounced upon by one of the swans, that pulled the animal into the water, and held it under till it was drowned. This cruel deed was noticed by the other deer in the park, and did not go long unrevenged; for shortly after this the very swan, which had never till this time been molested by the deer, was singled out when on land one day, and furiously attacked by the herd, which closed around the cruel swan, and soon killed it.
Persons who have the care of elephants have often noticed that they know very well when any one is making fun of them, and that they very often revenge themselves when they have an opportunity. A painter wished to draw an elephant in the menagerie at Paris, and wanted to get the animal in a ridiculous attitude, which was with his trunk lifted up and his mouth open.
To make the elephant keep this position, an attendant threw fruit and nuts into the open mouth, but sometimes he only pretended to throw them. This made the animal very angry, and as if knowing that the painter rather than his servant was the one to blame, he finally turned to him and dashed a quantity of water from his trunk over the paper on which the painter was sketching his portrait.
A little girl about three years of age was noticed for a number of days going a considerable distance from the house with a piece of bread her mother had given her. This attracted the attention of the mother, who asked the father to follow the child, and find out what she did with the bread. On coming to the child, he found her busy at work feeding several snakes of the species of rattlesnakes called yellow heads. He quickly took her away, went to the house for his gun, and returning, killed two of them at one shot, and another a few days afterward. The child called these snakes as you would call chickens, and when her father told her if she let them come so near her, they would bite her, she replied, “No, they won't bite. They only eat the bread I give them.”
The people of Athens, when they had finished the temple, calledHecatompedon, set at liberty the beasts of burden that had been chiefly engaged in that work, allowing them to pasture at large, free from all further service. It is said that one of these animals afterward came of its own accord to work, and putting itself at the head of the laboring cattle, marched before them to the citadel. The people were pleased with this action, and said that the animal should be kept at public expense as long as it lived. Many people have shown particular marks of regard in burying animals which they have cherished and been fond of. The graves of Cimon's mares, with which he thrice conquered at the Olympic games, are still to be seen near his own tomb. Xanthippus, whose dog swam by the side of his galley to Salamis, when the Athenians were forced to abandon their city, afterward buried it with great pomp upon a promontory, which to this day is called theDog's Grave. In Pliny, we have an amusing account of a superb funeral ceremony, which took place during the reign of Claudius; in which the illustrious departed was no other than a crow, so celebrated for its talents and address, that it was looked upon as a sort of public property. Its death was felt as a national loss; the manwho killed it was condemned to expiate the crime with his own life; and nothing less than a public funeral could, as it was thought, do justice to its memory. The remains of the bird were laid on a bier, which was borne by two slaves; musicians went before it, playing mournful airs; and a great crowd of people of all ages and conditions, brought up the rear of the melancholy procession.
The monkeys in India, knowing by instinct how dangerous snakes are, are most vigilant in their destruction. They seize them by the neck, when asleep, and running to the nearest flat stone, grind down their heads by a strong friction on the surface, often looking at them, and grinning at their progress. When sure that the poisonous fangs are destroyed, they toss the reptiles to their young ones to play with, and seem to be greatly pleased at the death of their enemies.
A dog, between the breed of a mastiff and a bulldog, belonging to a chimney sweeper, lay, according to his master's orders, on a soot bag, which he had placed, carelessly, almost in the middle of a narrow back street, in a town in the south of England. A loaded cart passing by, the driver told the dog to move out of the way. When he refused to move, he was scolded, then beaten, first gently, and afterward pretty hard with the cart whip. But it was all to no purpose; the dog still lay quietly on the bag. The driver, with an oath, threatened to drive over the dog—he did so, and the faithful animal, in trying to stop the wheel by biting it, was crushed to pieces.
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Seals have a very delicate sense of hearing, and are much delighted with music. A gentleman, in his account of a voyage to Spitzenbergen, tells us that the son of the ship's captain who was very fond of playing on the violin, never failed to have a large audience when in the seas frequented by these animals; and he has seen them follow the ship for miles when any person was playing on deck.
On an estate in Scotland a terrier had a litter of pups, which were at once taken away from her and drowned. The unfortunate mother was very unhappy, until, a few weeks later, she saw a brood of ducklings, which she seized and carried to her house, where she kept them, following them in and out with the greatest care, and nursing them after her own fashion, with the most affectionate anxiety. When the ducklings, following their natural instinct, went into the water, their foster-mother was terribly alarmed; and as soon as they came back to land, she quickly snatched them up in her mouth, and ran home with them. What is still more strange is, that the same animal, when her litter of pups were taken away the year before, seized two chicks, which she brought up with the same care she now bestowed upon the ducks. When the young cocks began to try their voices, their foster-mother was as much annoyed as she now was by the swimming of the duckings—and never failed to repress their attempts at crowing.
M. Sonnini, when in Egypt, had an Angora cat, of which he was extremely fond. It was entirely covered with long white silken hairs, and its tail formed a magnificent plume, which the animal elevated at pleasure over its body. Not one spot, not a single dark shade marred the dazzling whiteness of its coat. Its nose and lips were of a delicate rose color. Two large eyes sparkled in its round head; one was of yellow and the other of fine blue.
This beautiful animal had even more beauty of manners than grace in attitude and movements. However ill any one used her, she never tried to put out her claws from their sheaths. Sensible to kindness, she licked the hand which caressed, and even the one which tormented her. In Sonnini's solitary moments, she kept the most of the time close by his side. She interrupted him often in the midst of his labors or meditations, by little caresses that were very touching, and she usually followed him in his walks. During his absence she sought and called for him all the time. She knew his voice at a distance, and seemed on each fresh meeting with him to feel increased delight.
“This animal,” says Sonnini, “was my principal amusement for several years. How plainly was her love for me shown in herface! How many times have her caresses made me forget my troubles and comforted me in the midst of my misfortunes! My beautiful and interesting companion, however, at last died. After several days of suffering, during which I never left her, the light of her eyes, which were constantly fixed on me, went out, and her death rent my heart with sorrow.”
It is customary in large boarding-houses to announce the dinner-hour by sounding a bell. A cat belonging to one of these houses always hastened to the hall on hearing the bell, to get its usual meal; but it happened one day that she was shut up at dinner time in a chamber, and it was in vain for her that the bell had rung. Some hours afterward, having been released from her confinement, she hastened to the hall, but found nothing left for her. The clever cat then went to the bell, and ringing it, tried to call the family to a second dinner, in which she hoped to get her usual share.
A constable once made a complaint before a bench of London magistrates against a horse for stealing hay. The complainant stated that the horse came regularly every night of its own accord, and without any attendant, to the coach stands in St. George's, ate all he wanted, and then galloped away. He defied the whole of the parish officers to catch him; for if they tried to go near him while he was eating, he would throw up his heels and kick at them, or run at them, and if they did not get out of the way, he would bite them. The constable, therefore, thought it best to bring the case to the attention of the magistrates.
“Well, Mr. Constable,” said one of the magistrates, “if you should be annoyed again by this animal in the execution of your duty, you may arrest him if you can, and bring him before us to answer your complaints.”
Many years ago a gentleman accidentally caught a sea-gull. He cut its wings and put it in his garden. The bird remained there for several years, and being kindly treated, became so tame as to come at call to be fed at the kitchen door. It was known by the name of Willie. This bird became at last so tame that no pains were taken to keep it, and, its wings having grown to full length, it flew away, joined the other gulls on the beach, and came back from time to time, to pay a visit to the house. When its companions left the country at the usual season, Willie went with them, much to the regret of the family. To their great joy, however, it returned next season; and with its usual familiarity came to its old haunt, where it was welcomed and fed liberally. In this way it went and returned for forty years, without missing a year, and kept up its acquaintance in the most cordial manner; for while in the country, it visited them almost daily, answered to its name like any domestic animal, and almost ate out of the hand. One year, however, Willie did not pay his respects to the family for eight or ten days after the general flock of gulls were upon the coast, and great was the concern and sorrow over his loss, as it was thought he must surely be dead; but to the surprise and joy of the family, a servant one morning came running into the breakfast-roomin great joy, saying that Willie had returned. Food was soon supplied in abundance, and Willie with his usual frankness ate of it heartily and was as tame as any barn-yard fowl about the house. After a year or two more, however, this grateful bird never came again.
A lady had a tame bird which she was in the habit of letting out of its cage every day. One morning as it was picking crumbs of bread off the carpet, her cat, who had always showed before great kindness toward the bird, suddenly seized it, and jumped with it in her mouth upon a table. The lady was alarmed for the fate of her favorite, but on turning about, instantly saw the cause. The door had been left open, and a strange cat had just come into the room! After she had put it out, her own cat came down from her place of safety, and dropped the bird without having done it the least injury.
In a large menagerie there was a lion called Danco, whose cage needed some repairs. His keeper hired a carpenter to do the work, but when the workman came and saw the lion, he started back in terror. The keeper entered the animal's cage, and led him to the upper part of it, while the lower was being fixed. He there amused himself for some time playing with the lion, and being wearied, at last fell asleep. The carpenter, relying fully upon the vigilance of the keeper, went on rapidly with his work, and when he had finished it, he called him to see what was done. The keeper made no answer. Having repeatedly called him in vain, he began to feel alarmed at his situation, and he determined to go to the upper part of the cage, where, looking through the railing, he saw the lion and the keeper sleeping side by side. He immediately uttered a loud cry; the lion, awakened by the noise, started up and stared at the carpenter with an eye of fury, and then, placing his paw on the breast of his keeper, lay down to sleep again. At length the keeper was awakened by some of the attendants, and he did not appear in the least worried by the situation in which he found himself, but shook the lion by the paw, and then gently conducted him to his old cage.
Some years ago a sparrow had early in the spring taken possession of a swallow's old nest, and had laid some eggs in it, when the original builder and owner made her appearance and claimed possession. The sparrow, firmly seated, refused to leave the nest. A smart battle followed, in which the swallow was joined by its mate, and, during the conflict, by several of their comrades. All the efforts of the swallows to drive out the usurper were, however, unsuccessful. Finding themselves completely foiled in this object, they held a council of war to consult as to what they should do, and the plan they agreed upon shows that it was with no ordinary degree of ingenuity that they had solved the question as to what was right and just. Since the sparrow could not be driven out of the nest, the next question with them appears to have been, how she could be otherwise punished for her unlawful occupation of a property belonging to another. The council were of one mind in thinking that nothing short of the death of the intruder could atone for so heinous an offense; and having so decided, they went to work to put their sentence into execution in the following very wonderful manner. Leaving the scene of the contest for a time, they returned with many more friends, each bearing a beak full of building materials; and without any further attempt to beat out the sparrow, they at once set to work to build up the entrance into thenest, and soon had enclosed the sparrow within the clay tenement, thus leaving the poor bird to perish in the stronghold she had so bravely defended.
In a large north of England town a pair of strange rooks, after trying in vain to find a home in a rookery at a little distance from the Exchange, gave up the attempt, and took refuge on the spire of a building; and although constantly bothered by other rooks, they built their nest on the top of the vane, and there reared a brood of young ones, undisturbed by the noise of the people below them. The nest and its inmates were, of course, turned about by every change of the wind. For ten years they continued to build their nest in the same place, soon after which the spire was taken down.
The hare is scarcely a domestic animal; yet we have an account of one that was so tame as to feed from the hand, lie under a chair in the sitting-room, and appear in every way as easy and comfortable as a lapdog. It now and then went out into the garden, but, after hopping about in the fresh air for a while, it always returned to the house. Its usual companions were a greyhound and a spaniel, with whom it spent its evenings, the whole three playing and sleeping together on the same hearth. What makes the circumstance more remarkable is, that the greyhound and spaniel were both so fond of hare-hunting, that they used often to go out coursing together, without anybody with them. They were like the “Sly Couple,” of whose devotion to the chase an amusing story is told.
A traveller once brought a young hare to such a degree of frolicsome familiarity, that it would run and jump about his sofa and bed; leap upon and pat him with its fore feet; or while he was reading, it would sometimes knock the book out of his hands, as if to claim, like a fondled child, his exclusive attention.
A sow, which was a thin, long-legged animal, when young took such a fancy to some pointer puppies that a gamekeeper on a neighboring estate was breaking, that it played, and often came to feed with them. This led the gamekeeper, who had broken many a dog as obstinate as a pig, to think he might also manage to break a pig.
The little animal would often go out with the puppies to some distance from home; and he coaxed it farther by a sort of pudding made of barley meal, which he carried in one of his pockets. The other pocket he filled with stones, which he threw at the pig whenever she misbehaved.
He found the animal tractable, and soon taught her what he wished by this mode of reward and punishment. They were frequently seen out together, when the sow quartered her ground as regularly as any pointer, stood when she came on game (having an excellent nose), and backed other dogs as well as ever a pointer did. When she came on the cold scent of game, she slackened her trot, and gradually dropped her ears and tail; till she was certain, and then fell down on her knees. So staunch was she, that she would frequently remain for five minutes and upwards on her point. As soon as the game rose, she always returned to her master, grunting very loud, for her reward of pudding, if it was not at once given to her.
A well-known traveller tells a story about the ourang-outang in its wild state, which shows that it has both a good memory and some ingenuity.
When the fruits on the mountains are gone, these animals often go down to the seacoast, where they feed upon various kinds of shell-fish, but in particular on a large sort of oyster, which commonly lies open on the shore. “Fearful,” he says, “of putting in their paws, lest the oyster should close and crush them, they insert a stone as a wedge within the shell. This prevents it from closing, and they then drag out their prey, and devour it at leisure.”
A favorite house-dog, left to the care of its master's servants, while he was himself away, would have been starved by them if it had not found a friend in the kitchen of a friend of its master's, which in better days it had occasionally visited. On the return of the master it had plenty at home, and had no further need of food; but still it did not forget the place where it had found a friend in need. A few days after, the dog fell in with a duck, which, as he found in no private pond, he no doubt decided was no private property. He snatched up the duck in his teeth, carried it to the kitchen where he had been so generously fed, laid it at the cook's feet, with many polite movements of his tail, and then scampered off with much seeming joy at having given this real proof of his gratitude.
A wren built her nest in a box, so placed that a family had a chance to watch the mother bird teaching her young ones the art of singing peculiar to wrens. She fixed herself on one side of the opening in the box, directly before the young birds, and began singing over her whole song very distinctly. One of the little birds then tried to imitate her. After singing through a few notes, its voice broke and it lost the tune. The mother at once began again where the young one had failed, and went very distinctly through the rest of the song. The young bird made a second attempt, beginning where it had stopped before, and kept up the song as long as it was able. If the note was lost again, the mother began anew where it stopped, and finished it. Then the little one resumed the song and finished it.
This done, the mother sang over the whole series of notes a second time with great care, and a second of the young ones tried to follow her. The wren followed the same course with this one as with the first; and so on with the third and all the rest. It sometimes happened that the young bird would lose the tune three or four or more times in the same attempt, and the mother would always begin where they stopped and sing the rest of the song; and when each little bird had sung the whole song through, she repeated the whole strain.Sometimes two of the young birds began together. The mother did just the same as when one sang alone. This practise was repeated day after day, and several times a day.
A mastiff dog, who owed more to the kindness of a neighbor than to his master, was once locked by mistake in the well-stored pantry of his benefactor for a whole day, where there were, within his reach, milk, butter, bread and meat, in abundance. On the return of the servant to the pantry, seeing the dog come out, and knowing the time it had been shut in there, she trembled for fear of the waste which she was sure her carelessness must have brought about; but on close examination, it was found that the honest creature had not tasted of anything, although, on coming out, he fell on a bone that was given him, with all the greediness of hunger.
The Alpine marmots are said to work together in the collection of materials for the building of their homes. Some of them, we are told, cut the herbage, others collect it into heaps; a third set serve as wagons to carry it to their holes; while still others perform all the work of draught horses. The manner of the latter part of the curious process is this. The animal that is to be the wagon, lies down on its back, and stretching out its four legs as wide as it can, allows itself to be loaded with hay; and those that are to be the horses, drag it, thus loaded, by the tail, taking care not to upset the creature. The task of thus serving as a wagon being, evidently, the least desirable part of the business, is taken by every one of the party in turn.
During the time that Prince Maurice was ruling in Brazil, he heard of an old parrot that was much celebrated for answering like a human being, many of the common questions put to it. It was at a great distance; but so much had been said about it that the prince's curiosity was roused, and he directed it to be sent for.
When the parrot was brought into the room where the prince was sitting, in company with several Dutchmen, it at once cried out in the Brazilian language, “What a company of white men are here!” They asked it, “Who is that man?” (pointing to the prince). The parrot answered, “Some general or other.” When the attendants carried it up to him, he asked it, through the aid of an interpreter (for he did not understand its language), “Whence do you come?” The parrot answered, “From Marignan.”
The prince asked, “To whom do you belong?” It answered, “To a Portuguese.” He asked again, “What do you there?” The parrot answered, “I look after chickens.” The prince laughing, exclaimed, “You look after chickens!” The parrot in reply said, “Yes, I do; and I know well how to do it;” clucking at the same time in imitation of the noise made by the hen to call her little chicks together.
The prince afterward said that although the parrot spoke in a language he did not understand, yet he could not be deceived, for he had in the room at the time both a Dutchman who spoke Brazilian, and a Brazilian who spoke Dutch; that he asked them separately and privately, and both agreed exactly in their account of the parrot's conversation.
A pair of goldfinches who had had the misfortune to be captured with their nest and six young ones, were placed in a double cage, with a pair of canaries, which had a brood of little ones also; there being a partition of wire netting between the cages.
At first the goldfinches seemed careless about their young ones. The father canary, attracted by the cries of the baby goldfinches, forced himself through a flaw in the wire, and began to feed them. This it did regularly, until the goldfinches undertook the work themselves, and rendered the kindness of the canary no longer necessary.
A french dog was taught by his master to run many different errands, among others to bring him his meals from a restaurant. The dog carried the food in a basket, and one evening, when the dog was returning to his master with his dinner, two other dogs, attracted by the savory smell coming from the basket, made up their minds to attack him. The dog put his basket on the ground and set himself courageously against the first one that advanced against him; but while he was fighting with one, the other ran to the basket, and began to help himself. At length, seeing that there was no chance of beating both dogs, and saving his master's dinner, he threw himself between his two opponents, and without further ceremony, quickly ate up the rest of the food himself, and then returned to his master with the empty basket.
A butcher and cattle dealer had a dog which he usually took with him when he drove cattle to market at a town some nine miles distant from his home, to be sold. The dog was very clever at managing the cattle.
At last, so sure was the master of the wisdom and faithfulness of his dog, that he made a wager that he would trust him with a certain number of sheep and oxen, and let him drive them to the market all by himself. It was agreed that no person should be within sight or hearing—at least no one who had any control over the dog; nor was anybody to interfere or be within a quarter of a mile.
On the day of the trial, the dog went about his business in the most skilful and knowing manner; and although he had often to drive his charge through the herds that were grazing, yet he never lost one, but conducting them into the very yard to which he was wont to drive them when with his master, he delivered them up to the person appointed to receive them.
What more particularly marked the dog's sagacity was, that, when the path the herd travelled lay through a spot where others were grazing, he would run forward, stop his own drove, and thendriving the others from each side of the path, collect his scattered charge and then go on again. He was several times afterward sent thus alone for the amusement of the curious or the convenience of his master, and always did his work in the same adroit and intelligent manner.